My Strawberry Blood
by LostWaffle
Summary: Ichigo "Chio" Mayami is just like everyone else. Everyone has a part of themselves they hate, and a guilty pleasure they can't stop going back to. That perspective was how she kept going knowing what she was. Maybe sometimes the things we hate about ourselves and the things can't leave alone become the things we need the most. Chio was just like everyone else. Except not really.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Blue Exorcist, and sadly never will. I only own my OC.**

Chapter 1: Conditions

Chio mentally swore as the hot soup from the noodles burned her mouth as she greedily ingested them. Despite this, she carried on eating the ramen enthusiastically. She had waited all day for this, endured a long and annoying rant from the matron for not scrubbing the tiles correctly and then finally pushed through the last job application just so she could come and stuff her face in privacy.

The meals at the girl's home were terrible and often ran out before everyone got a serving, so it was a pleasant escape to leave and eat at some street ramen stand. Chio thought back to the recent weekend, she had been visiting her families' graves and lamenting over time she could never get back when the little fluffy dog had approached her. At first she had wondered if he had simply gotten separated from his owner, he was so well cared for it couldn't be that he was a stray. She had nearly fallen over herself when the little dog had asked her what was wrong.

Long story short, the dog was not actually a dog but rather the principal of True Cross Academy, the school she had been secretly wishing she could attend for its extensive study programs and most importantly it's cram school for aspiring exorcists.

Chio had been versed well in exorcism for years, even if she hadn't initially known it. Her parents had been rather unorthodox; having her take mixed martial arts lessons alongside a friend since childhood, letting them both learn how to shoot and teaching them about basic demonology as though it were all innocent and flowery. Her parents had been exorcists, that she knew now. Back then she had just thought them overprotective and ambitious. There was a lot she had thought she knew all those years ago; Chio just wished it hadn't taken losing her only family to understand the truth of it all. The dog – Mephisto, had come with a proposition she had not expected. On a silver platter he offered her entry to True Cross under two simple conditions.

Condition one, she was to join the cram school and become a qualified exorcist. Chio didn't mind this one at all, seeing as she already wanted to do so. Somewhere in the back of her mind a little red warning flag had shot up as if to indicate that Mephisto knew this and was merely playing dumb to aid an agenda. Chio had dismissed it in favor of hearing the second condition. Condition two was where shit hit the fan. Chio was not allowed to let anyone in the academy know about her parentage unless her life was at stake. That meant no using her demon powers. Yeah, demon powers.

Chio, or rather Ichigo Mayami, was no normal human girl. Her father was a demon, and he was a nasty one too. He was Asmodeus, Demon Lord of Lust and Lechery. Her so called friend that her parents conveniently allowed her to learn about exorcism with was actually her half sister. They shared the same powers, but the differences were immense. For one Ume was a terrible human being but alongside that they looked like polar opposites too. Ichigo had caramel skin and cocoa colored hair while Ume had stark white skin and a head of dirty blonde locks. Both girls shared a wavy hair type and their unusual deep purple eyes, but physical similarity ended there. While Chio hated her inherited power and had promised herself only to use it to fight off demonic evil, Ume had decided she was blessed and belonged above authority for whatever reason. Since losing her parents Chio hadn't seen Ume more than once a year for their annual fight.

It was a penance of sorts, since they awakened their powers they simply couldn't be in the same room. Ume fought to prove she was superior and correct, and Chio fought to make her remember that she wasn't.

So when the strange dog principal had made her the offer of a lifetime, despite its drawbacks she had accepted. Of course only after she did he dropped the real bomb. Alongside her at the school would be another demon Halfling, and not just any demon spawn either. It was Satan's son, or sons. Mephisto had backed her into his limo rather suddenly and started explaining the whole fiasco much to her annoyance. Satan had fathered two boys around the same time she had been conceived. One had the blue flames of Satan and the other was… human as of yet. The human one was a middle rank exorcist already, and the fiery one was recently removed from the dark having awakened his demon power. Rin was his name. Chio had wanted to scoff.

She and Ume had awakened at ten. Rin Okumura had awakened at fifeteen, how any seal had managed to contain that power for that amount of time baffled her.

That being said, the only reason they had awakened so early was because Ume had been too curious and misbehaved for her own good. The costs of discovering their inheritance had been similar for both her and the boys it seemed.

So now one Okumura brother carried around the Kurikara, while the other toted his guns and pencils, both of them in the strange grey area she had once been. She fingered her staff absentmindedly; she had never met another person aside from Ume with a demon weapon. Her own was a staff folded in two and tucked neatly into her pants to avoid notice. When assembled and twisted two sharp as fuck blades would emerge from the end to kill any demon or human who wished her harm. It made so much sense when she had seen it, the lessons, the martial arts…all for this.

She would have to refrain from using it. No using it ever unless she was about to bite the dust. She had her guns, so those would suffice until she qualified as an exorcist and could ditch the conditions of Mephisto's offer.

Chio sipped her juice silently, things were getting interesting.

/

Chio pulled at her uniform, the scratchy vest and irritatingly pink skirt making her angry.

"Do I really have to wear this crap? It's totally not my style" she said, giving her new principal a death glare. He only chuckled at her.

"It is the uniform that all female students have to wear. Unless you've decided to opt out of our little deal I suggest you keep it on. However, the cram school tends to be less strict if you decide to dress a little frumpier" Mephisto drawled, his hat spinning on his gloved hand. This guy was a real cracker.

"Okay so how do I get there?" Chio asked impatiently. Ever since they'd arrived he'd been goading her. Calling her Ichigo instead of Chio, being vague about everything. Just being an ass really.

"You'll need a key, I suggest you not lose it. They are rather hard to replace" the principal muttered, holding out a shiny key to her. She took it, looking it over suspiciously.

"I can get to cram school from any door using this? You weren't screwing around in the car earlier?" she said, eyeing him. Mephisto rolled his strange eyes and grinned.

"Of course not, that would only ruin the fun. I've let Okumura Sensei know you'll be arriving as a new student today. Do keep to the rules. Also, you'll need this if you have any hope of passing as a real student" he droned, tossing her a backpack which was surprisingly filled with school supplies. Albeit, cheap ones.

"Thanks, I'll make sure to keep to your rules. But if someone shows up here out for blood, well my blood, I'm not making any promises" Chio warned, prompting the cracker man to smile at her in a way she almost wanted to run from.

"I don't expect any less, Ichigo-san" he said mischievously.

Reluctantly but hurriedly, she exited his office and headed as far down the hall as she could before she let out a huge sigh of relief.

Mephisto was a fucking creep.

That guy had motives that much she knew. Whatever they were she was going to make sure she knew she was careful so she didn't end up sitting in shit because of him. Chio nervously rubbed the key in her palm, was she ready for this? She had to be. Her family would be cheering her on of they were here. Hastily she tore off the annoying yellow vest and shoved it into the bag, then began unbuttoning her blouse to expose the shirt she had worn here. It was grey with a mottled looking purple and black rose printed on it. That combined with her normal black boots was casual enough to make her comfy. Screw that uniform.

If this cram school was casual they wouldn't care too much. She went to push the key into the door but found herself hesitating again. Her guns where attached to her hips as usual by her belt, but she couldn't very well walk into a new class with them out in the open could she? Huffing, she shoved them and her extra clips into the Mephistbag. She was pleasantly surprised to find a green sucker at the bottom of the bag; Chio quickly pulled it out and began to enjoy it. She loved sweets; just having one calmed her nerves considerably. Right. Guns hidden, uniform altered, and for security purposes only her staff was folded and tucked behind her out of view.

Turning the key revealed a colorful hall way, it was astonishing to say the least. It did feel a little magical to use a key like this. A door was propped slightly open, pleasant chatter floating into the hall. That must be it. Slowly she approached the door and tried to imagine her new classmates. Chio tried to picture the son of the Satan studying next to her. He had to be like her right? A product of evil incarnate impregnating a human, constantly followed by naysayers who believed he was as evil as his father. They could be friends, and if he was a dick, fuck him. Fuck them all if they were.

In a flourish the door opened, and they all turned their heads to look at the new addition. A purple haired girl spared her a nonplussed glance before returning to her book. Three dudes in the corner looked at her in confusion, and a blonde in a kimono gave her a smile. There was some weirdo puppet dude talking to himself with his eyes shut. The last boy, it had to be Rin, he had the ears and the teeth like her. Except her ears were pointed up and hidden behind her hair thank goodness. Rin turned to look, surprise on his face at having not noticed until after the others. The stalemate carried on, they stared at her and she stared at them. Chio sighed in exasperation.

"Jeez, why are you all staring? It's not exactly like I could've wandered here without realizing it. I'm new here, my name is Mayami Chio" she said with a challenging eyebrow raise.

She was met with a momentary silence again, before one of the boys from the corner manifested beside her. He had pink hair and from the look on his face Chio already knew she was going to break something today.

"Chio, what a beautiful name… What brings you to study exorcism? The pleasure of studying beside you will be all mine by the way, Shima Renzou. " he said smoothly, holding out a hand. Everyone was still quiet as though they were awaiting her response. Chio narrowed her eyes. She hated playboys.

"My reasons for being here are none of your business pinkie. But seeing as I like your hair color I'll let you off the hook for creeping me out just now. Nice to meet you" she chuckled, before taking a seat behind the blonde and Rin. The aforementioned boy promptly burst into laughter, followed by a quiet giggle from the girl next to him.

"Damn Shima, you really have terrible luck with women" he said with a grin.

So she was right, this Rin seemed to be a nice guy. A cute squeaking voice interrupted her thoughts, looking down to her side a little Green Man stood proudly tugging at her sleeve.

"Oh, Nii-chan likes you" the blonde said pleasantly, eyeing the Green Man with adoration and love.

"Is he your familiar?" Chio asked, cradling the creature in her hands. She loved demons as much as she hated them sometimes, they weren't all evil. Green men were some of her favorites. She often saw them in the garden as a child.

"Yes, I summoned him in class awhile ago and I can't get enough of him. I'm Shiemi by the way" Shiemi said kindly.

"I'm Rin, nice to meet ya" Rin exclaimed, offering her his hand to shake. Time to get an estimate of this guy. Mephisto had said she wasn't allowed to disclose info about herself. However, if he came to his own conclusion that she was powerful, it only meant more fun for her right?

Chio grinned and took his hand, shaking it firmly. She felt their strength bounce off each other's and Rin's blue eyes jumped up to meet her purple ones. As their hands separated, she looked at him and tried to gauge his reactions. Curiosity, suspicion, excitement. He seemed nice, childish, but nice. Not a threat either.

"You're pretty strong huh?" he said excitedly, his glossy tail swinging animatedly behind him. Chio felt her own react, as if to join in on the playful vibe, but she kept it wrapped firmly around her waist. The rest of the class knew about Rin, but they couldn't know about her yet.

"Maybe. You're a half demon then?" she asked, looking pointedly at his tail. Rin blanched, along with the rest of the class. Perhaps they thought she wouldn't react well. Looking around, they all seemed to be waiting for it.

"Yeah, I'm terrible at hiding it. My father is Satan, just thought I'd get it out there now" he said quietly, as though he were waiting for her to recoil or move away. Shima and his two friends watched with bated breath, while Shiemi looked on in concern for her friend. Chio almost felt bad for him.

"So? As far as I know nobody is a clone of their dad. We decide who we want to be. I have decided I would like to be your friend, if that's okay with you?" she said, offering him a red sucker from the Mephistbag. Surprisingly there were quite a few candies in there. Rin just stared at the lollipop in surprise, eventually taking it and stuffing it in his mouth.

"Thanks, I'd like that" he said animatedly, grinning wildly at everyone. Shiemi beamed at her, the little Green man dancing happily on the desk.

"Okumura-kun gets all the girls" Shima spat, pushing his pencil around dejectedly. A larger boy with several piercings rolled his eyes before scoffing in her general direction. Immediately she turned to him, death in her eyes.

"Got a problem?" she said sternly. The boy turned to face her, death equally potent in his eyes.

"No, I just don't see why you gotta come cozy up to Okumura because you think he's some strong demon. You don't even know anyone here yet" he said snidely.

Chio bit back a retort about his dyed hair before settling on taking the peaceful route. If she wanted she could make him fall to his knees in apology, make him beg for her attention and humiliate himself. But that was more Ume's style than her's.

"I can be your friend too if it bothers you that much" she said plainly, offering him a wrapped caramel from the bag. Chio made a mental note to refill it regularly if giving candy was gonna be her thing. The boy squinted at her offering, before eventually swiping it from her hand and eating it. Shima made another pained cry at the exchange somewhere in the background.

"The name's Suguro," he said. Chio nearly laughed.

"Chio. And don't introduce yourself like that, you sound like a cowboy or something weird like that. No need to be so callous all the time" she murmured, earning a blush from the boy and a snicker from Rin and Shima. It was easy for her to wind people around her finger in this way, make them react. Chio had no ill intention at all; he was after all her new friend. However, sometimes the gifts her father had given her made her life strangely easy, being able to read people the way she could made building bridges so simple. Sometimes she wondered if it was a trait she had received or developed on her own.

The classroom door opened with an unhappy creak, and a teenager in a long black coat strode in. His glasses glinted in the light, indicating how serious he was trying to be. Yet Chio was pleasantly surprised when he smiled at his class. This was the brother, Yukio Okumura. No demonic traits seemed present, yet she couldn't shake a feeling of foreboding that washed over her when she looked in his eyes. Oh well whatever.

"Good day everyone, I see you've met our new student, Mayami Ichigo. Welcome." he said pleasantly, smiling directly at her.

Chio froze. He did not just. He fucking did. The purple haired girl giggled, and Rin turned to look at her in confusion.

"You said your name was Chio?" he said, looking at her questioningly. Chio sighed in irritation. She had told Mephisto to introduce her as Chio, not Ichigo. This had to be his doing, that damn idiot.

"My real name is Ichigo, but I have people call me Chio because I hate being called a word that means strawberry, you can't blame me" she said flatly. The teacher frowned awkwardly along with a few of the other kids in the class.

"I'm sorry, Sir Pheles just told me your name was Ichigo, and he neglected to mention your preferred name" Yukio said. Chio mentally exploded.

"That damn cracker, I knew he was behind this. I told him to call me Chio a million times today and did he listen? No, it's always Ichigo this, and Ichigo that. Ichigo don't break the rules, don't destroy your itchy uniform Ichigo" she growled, her fists clenched. She should've known he was just going to annoy her if she accepted his offer.

Rin began to cackle, followed by Shima and Suguro. The small bald kid silently giggled behind them, and Chio swore she heard a snicker from Shiemi. Although she puffed her cheeks out in irritation, she was happy that people were so welcoming.

 **:Well I think this went okay, please be good to me as this is my first Fanfiction attempt. Reviews very much appreciated. *nervously fumbles***


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi, well I don't know what to say. I wasn't expecting such nice reviews! Thank you so much. To answer a question, the events of this story take place after the birthday party episode of the anime, however I've changed things so that Yukio doesn't receive the call about the attack by the masked man until later. Really I'm pushing back that stuff until I can establish more Chio plot. I am following the anime for this story, but after that I don't know what will happen.**

 **Again, thanks for the kind feedback, don't hesitate to let me know if I make any mistakes or need to touch anything up. I'll try not to disappoint :)**

 **I don't own anything apart from Chio!**

/

 **Chapter 2: Caramel Cups**

They spent the next hour or so listening to Yukio explain the varieties of herbal concoctions one might use to treat a demon inflicted wound, some of which Chio knew and some she didn't. Yukio passed around worksheets for homework with his stoic yet expressive smile, she heard Rin grumble at him for assigning so much. Chio was no expert at academia, she often struggled with tests. Yet she had a passion for demon related stuff so it wasn't too intimidating.

"Mayami-san, I would advise you to ask someone for help with the assignment as a good portion of it was taught before you joined us. If you'd like any extra work to help you catch up just ask." Yukio said, laying a sheet on her desk.

Chio almost wanted to take him up on his offer, but she figured she ought to give it go alone first. Maybe her parents had taught her more than she realized? She scrawled her name on the sheet before sliding it into her bag. Apparently they had PE next, whatever that meant for a trainee exorcist. There weren't any gym clothes in her bag, so that must mean it was as casual as regular classes.

"You coming Mayami? It's sparring today and if you're late you'll have to go last" Suguro said offhandedly. Chio nearly jumped, she must have been thinking for longer than she realized. Grabbing her bag she hurried after her new friends and tried to push the concern down. Sparring? How on earth was she going to manage that without exposing herself? No doubt Rin might unsheathe his sword, and God knows what everyone else had. Guns didn't class as contact weaponry so she wouldn't be able to use them. Damn.

The PE area was strange, rather than an auditorium like her previous school it was just a huge pit with some Leapers caged in the middle. She slid down the side of the pit, followed by a reluctant Shiemi who she ended up holding as they descended. A weird man with sideburns stood at the bottom, he was clearly their teacher.

"Looks like Ol' Sideburns has yet to receive a call from his wife…" Rin mumbled haughtily. He was grinning from ear to ear at Shiemi. The blonde girl merely smiled back, Nii-chan perched on her shoulder.

A ringing noise interrupted their exchange, and Chio felt her eyebrows knit together. Perhaps Rin had been talking sense. The should-be teacher was chatting animatedly into his cell, muttering about kitties and love before snapping it shut and turning to face them.

"I apologize kids, I must go, it is urgent. Okumura-sensei will be supervising in my place while I tend to my urgent matter" he said wildly, rushing off into the distance. Within five minutes Yukio was back again, frustration shining in his eyes.

"Tsubaki-sensei has an urgent matter to attend to, so I will be supervising your sparring today. We will pair up and practice our combat skills. Only certain contact weapons are allowed for today though, no guns, blades or explosives. Also no familiars are allowed to assist." he explained.

The class began to chatter as they paired up, Suguro and Rin made a beeline for each other confirming her suspicions on their rivalry. Shiemi hobbled shyly towards Izumo who sighed before accepting her offer of partnership. Spotting the bald boy from earlier, Chio went to approach him only to be stopped by Shima.

"Mayami-san, would you do me the honor of being my partner?" he asked, bowing dramatically. Behind him the puppet boy was standing next to the bald kid, Chio had missed her chance. Oh well, if this oaf was going to ask for it she'd give it to him.

"Of course, but don't expect me to be an expert or anything" she said, batting her eyelids. She was kinda an expert really, but it would be so much more fun if he thought she wasn't. Shima ate up her behavior, grinning cockily.

"I won't, I assure you I'm an excellent fighter so you won't be harmed" he flirted. Chio tried to remain neutral, not showing her true amusement at his gross assumptions on her ability.

"First pair, come up and start" Yukio called out. Shima unexpectedly grabbed her wrist and pulled her up front, the others watching them like hawks.

"Take your positions" Yukio said in a robotic fashion, stepping back to allow them a wider expanse of the pit. Shima darted a few feet away from her, a playful expression on his face. If he wasn't taking her seriously now, he would be soon.

Shima quickly reached into his shirt and began assembling a staff of his own. Chio cursed under her breath. Oh how she wanted to whip out her own staff and come to blows with him, but for now she was limited to her fists. Taking him out wouldn't be difficult, his posture and hold on the staff showed his skill and technique were lacking. He'd undoubtedly make the first move.

"Begin" Yukio said loudly. Sure enough, Shima dashed towards her, his golden staff shining in the artificial light. She waited until he was inches from her, then she made her move.

As he made to hit her with his staff, she brought her arms up to block, taking the impact. It didn't really hurt; she'd taken harder from Ume as a child. Bringing her leg high up she kicked him in the ribs causing his grip on the staff to falter enough for her to push it out of his hands. Chio spun back around, using the same leg to sweep him off his feet. He rolled away, returning to a standing position a few feet away, the pain from her kick obvious on his face.

She watched him eye the staff that sat in the dust behind her. He could try to get it back but Chio knew she could easily take it again. It was part of her skill-set to fight with a staff and against one. Getting into a fighting stance, she raised an eyebrow at him and smirked. He didn't come at her this time, so she decided to do so instead. He threw a punch which she easily dodged, followed by another and another.

It was child's play, every hit he attempted to make she avoided. Finally she grew tired of artfully moving out of the way and punched him in the rib she'd kicked earlier, causing him to hiss. Chio took advantage of his momentary distraction and gripped his shoulders so she could easily bring her knee into his gut and then throw him back. She made to kick him again, but he dodged as she had expected and dashed backwards in attempt to put distance between them. It was a pointless move. Chio quickly advanced, easily avoiding another couple punches and maneuvering around him so she was behind him. Pulling his arm awkwardly, she elbowed him in the rib again and brought him down hard onto the floor.

"Man that hurt" he groaned. She had done it, and it was easy.

"I like sparring with you Shima-kun; we should do it more often." Chio said sweetly as she looked at the mess in front of her. The rest of her classmates looked awed. Thankfully Yukio's clapping ended the silence.

"Well done, as Chio has demonstrated, it is wise to target a certain point repeatedly on your opponent to both weaken and distract them as you attack. Although, please try not to injure each other too much" he exclaimed, eyeing the wrinkled lump that was Shima.

"Whoa Chio, where'd you learn to fight like that?" Rin asked excitedly. Chio smiled, she did love a good fight. It had been ages since she'd done it for fun.

"My parents were very keen for me to be able to defend myself in all respects against any opponent. They had me take lessons as I grew up, and would often spar with me" she answered fondly.

"Can I spar with your parents? They sound like they'd be totally cool!" Rin exclaimed. Chio almost allowed a look of pain to cross her face, but reined it for her own sake.

"My parents passed away a long time ago, but I'm sure they would've loved to if they were still here. They were pretty fierce" she said lightly, smiling at Rin. She didn't want him to feel guilty for mentioning them considering his own history.

As she predicted, a look of worry instantly overtook him and she swore she saw his own pain re-ignite like a fire in his eyes. In her peripheral vision she could also see Yukio eyeing them as he bandaged Shima's scrapes.

"I'm sorry about that. My old man died recently so I understand I guess. They must have been cool to have taught you to fight that well!" he said, playing nervously with his hair. He was clearly feeling guilty for touching on a sensitive topic as she had worried he would.

"Don't worry about it. You can spar with me next time, it'll be the closest thing to them" she said, grinning at him ambitiously. Chio secretly wondered how skilled he was, if he only awakened recently he must rely on his powers an awful lot.

From their earlier handshake she knew he was incredibly strong, if they did fight she would have to rely on her speed and knowledge of pressure points to take him down. Punching Rin wouldn't be like punching Shima.

"You got a deal, I'm warning you though. I'm pretty hard to deal with" he boasted playfully. Chio didn't doubt it one bit.

Throughout the class she got a real feel for her fellow Exwires. She watched diligently as the other members of the class sparred. It was important she knew as much about them as possible if she was going to work with them. The purple haired girl was apparently called Izumo and was an aspiring tamer like Shiemi, and she packed a punch. However, it was a weak punch. Shiemi was no better, most of the fight was them circling each other and chatting. Takara or puppet boy as she had dubbed him was rather strange. His style of fighting was erratic, he took out Konekomaru with a single frenzied punch in the mouth that no one had seen coming. Lastly Rin and Bon were like school kids in the way they fought, going from serious to outright ridiculous. Rin chose to keep the Kurikara sheathed which was fair as the whole point of today was to fight using your fists first.

Chio felt sorry for Rin, once that sword came out he automatically felt the full blast of his power. There was no middle ground, and it made his weapon tetchy and difficult to use. Her staff didn't release her powers unless she popped the blades out, making it an effective weapon in most scenarios. She could use it in her human form and her demon form. The only issue was that once she partially assembled it, if she flared up enough it would decide to activate itself and reveal her. Keeping it tucked away was safer.

Eventually the class wound to an end and Yukio recommended they all practice in their spare time to improve. She said her goodbyes to her new friends and headed back out into the colorful hall that had started all this. Then it hit her. She had nowhere to go. Leaving the girls school came hand in hand with leaving the home too, so she was homeless now. What about her stuff? Had the nuns tossed it all? Shit. Chio was about to burst into a run towards the home when a familiar shuffling noise caught her attention.

In the hall behind her sat a certain white haired dog, a knowing look gracing it's features.

"Don't tell me. You've organized for me sleep in Gehenna outside classes?" she said, scowling at it. In a puff of pink smoke, the dog turned into Mephisto as she had known it would.

"I've a much more entertaining idea actually; I've had your things sent to the boy's dorm. It's simply more convenient for you to stay there than it is the girl's dorm or anywhere else for that matter. It wouldn't do to have you waking them up with your late night screams would it?" Chio tensed at his words. So he knew about her nightmares?

"How would being in the boy's dorm change anything? I'll just disturb them instead. Plus isn't that a little inappropriate?" she countered. Chio was getting annoyed now, this cracker wasn't making any sense.

"The old boy's dorm is actually quite abandoned. It only houses two people currently and its large enough to give you the privacy you require at night" Mephisto said.

"Two people? Let me guess. The Okumura twins right?" Chio scowled tiredly. Mephisto smirked again.

"They won't bother you. In fact, it's quite fitting considering all the things you have in common. Then again you could always refuse, but if you did you'd have nowhere to go…" he trailed off. The mock sadness in his voice was suffocating.

Chio grit her teeth. She wanted to shake the flouncy man by his coat and perhaps boil him, but he was right. Without the dorm she'd be on the street, and the streets at night were no place for a half-demon or anyone for that matter.

"Are they going to be comfortable with all this? It is a boy's dorm after all" Chio said. Having won her over yet again, Mephisto grinned in victory.

"I shall accompany you to explain the situation" he said, changing into his dog form again and scurrying down the hall as if she were meant to follow.

/

The True Cross Academy boy's dorm was old, run down, and rather depressing to look at. But she supposed it had to be better on the inside if people still inhabited it. Then again, the people inhabiting it were Mephisto's playthings, so it was probably just as bad. Chio tapped the buzzer impatiently, glaring daggers at the little dog by her feet. A loud thundering of feet against floor was heard, and suddenly the door was thrown open to reveal Rin.

"Chio? Mephisto? Uh, come in. What're you doing here?" he asked, eyeing the dog with wariness that was more than justified. Yukio appeared a ways behind him, looking equally confused.

The dorm was actually better on the inside, although Chio suspected it was because the boys had made an effort to clean it rather than anything else. Mephisto emerged from another cloud of pink smoke and posed flamboyantly.

"I have arranged for Ichigo-san to stay here during her studies at the academy. The girls dorm is unfortunately lacking in space and the bedding there irritates her eyes" Mephisto exclaimed. Chio held in a grunt.

The bedding irritating her eyes? Not even she could come up with a lie that sounded worse than that. She wasn't even going to mention his error in calling her Ichigo. Rin went a dark shade of red, and looked to Yukio as if to question such an idea.

"B-but this is the male dorm" he stressed, as though it wasn't obvious.

"I can read, look I have nowhere else to go. I'll leave you alone I swear. I'll be all the way at the other end of the floor anyway" she muttered. Rin fidgeted awkwardly, while Yukio approached and smiled.

"I had wondered why all those boxes had appeared in the room down there. I suppose it will be interesting to have a third person here, it can get quite quiet after Nii-san exhausts himself" he said kindly, without a single flinch.

Chio snorted; maybe this wouldn't be so bad. Hearing her laugh Rin grumbled, causing his younger twin to smile. So sensei was a softie at heart. How nice.

"I suppose it's okay, after all you're pretty cool. I cook some pretty awesome sukiyaki, so you'll be eating great every night" Rin said enthusiastically. Chio smiled, so he liked to cook? Having been a keen cook since she was young, she was happy to meet a kindred spirit.

"Oh really? Do you make dessert here too?" she asked.

"I don't really make sweet things that often, why?" Rin asked curiously.

"Well I make the best imagawayaki among other things. So expect competition." she exclaimed. Rin's eyes widened in excitement at her challenge.

"You're on, I'm making you lunch tomorrow and dinner tonight so you can see for yourself how hard it'll be to compete." he said, dashing off towards what was presumably the kitchen. Chio took off after him, eager to watch and participate in the cooking.

"Wait up, I want to help." she said, seriously considering pulling his tail as a rein to slow him.

Chio swore she could hear Yukio and Mephisto chuckling.

As it turned out, the boys dorm had a rather large cafeteria and kitchen. What was more surprising to Chio was the little demon chef and Cat Sidhe sitting on the counter together. The little two-tailed cat demon eagerly trotted over to Rin as soon as they entered the kitchen.

 _"Rin, who is your friend, are you two going to make me some sukiyaki tonight?"_ he asked excitedly. Of course, to a normal human it would've sounded like meowing, but Chio could understand it perfectly like Rin.

"Yeah Kuro, this is gonna be the nicest batch yet." Rin said as he began gathering pots and utensils.

 _"Do you know how to cook?"_ Kuro asked her, his two tails wagging around happily. Chio desperately wanted to answer, but replying to him would incite suspicion as only part-demon people could ever understand other demons like Kuro.

"How cute, I love cats." Chio said, trying to beat back her desire to reply and talk to the cat about endless and random things. Rin smiled at her and the cat, setting a hot pot out on the counter.

A huge part of Chio wanted to reveal herself, so she could be honest and hopefully accepted. If everyone could accept and trust Rin despite him being Satan's son, then surely they could do the same for her despite the reputation Asmodeus tended to have. Being the daughter of the Demon Lord of Lust and Lechery gave her enhanced versions of the powers Succubi tended to have, among other things. Asmodeus and his armies of depraved Succubi were known as desperate and manipulative, nobody trusted them. Chio didn't want to face such a rejection. She had before and no matter how thick a skin she grew it still hurt.

"Could you slice these for me?" Rin asked, handing her a box of mushrooms, a kind smile on his face.

Ukobach was busily carting eggs from the fridge to the counter, and Rin himself was in the middle of slicing beef. Chio nodded graciously, a large grin on her face. She loved to cook, but she loved cooking with people even more. It brought back memories of her time with her parents, they had always loved to cook with her.

/

Chio sat with a pleasant smile on her face, that Sukiyaki had been to die for. Although she was definitely going to make sure the feelings of enjoying good food were returned by Rin when she got a chance to make something. Rin was currently in the kitchen preparing the bento for tomorrow, and she had busied herself with unpacking. The room was actually big enough for two, but having it all to herself was nice. Chio doubted anyone else would come to fill the bed.

 _"You can hear me can't you?"_ Kuro's familiar voice said knowingly from behind her. Chio froze, turning slowly to face the little cat.

"You can't tell anyone. I'll get in big trouble if I'm found out" she insisted. Kuro narrowed his little eyes as if he were trying to gauge her.

 _"Are you here to hurt Rin and Yukio? I won't let you"_ Kuro said, the warning clear in his cute voice.

Chio almost screamed in frustration. She would never hurt Rin or Yukio, she cared about them. But hiding her nature was already causing people to distrust her.

"I would never. I just can't let anyone know what I am yet. Please keep it a secret" she almost begged. Kuro remained silent, his face showing no signs of agreement or disagreement.

"I'll cook for you whenever you want." Chio offered, knowing the cat loved food as much as she did. That was the clincher, the little cat demon's face lit up and it dashed into her arms.

 _"I'll keep it quiet."_ he said, purring against her. Chio laughed happily, not stopping until she heard the door to her room slide open. Yukio stood with a gentle smile across his face, looking down at her and Kuro.

"Rin and I are about to start studying, I was wondering if there was anything you might want to ask about before we do?" he asked, smiling kindly. Chio took her time to study him, she was almost curious as to why he had bothered to ask seeing as he had told her to come to him if she needed help. He was pretty cute with his glasses and moles and all that. His popularity with the girls was actually well supported.

"Oh, I think I'm okay at the moment. Thanks anyway." she said, surprised at the effort that sentence had taken. Yukio smiled, his teal eyes shining.

"Okay then, do come and ask if you come across anything." he said, turning to leave.

"Wait." Chio said, for whatever reason. At the moment she just wanted to keep talking to him. Scrambling mentally, she tried to come up with something to say.

"Where could I go to get some rounds, I know I can't use the exorcist shop seeing as I'm still an Exwire..." she asked, remembering that she only had a couple clips left. Yukio looked surprised suddenly.

"You need bullets?" he asked, looking quizzical. Chio gave him a half smile, and pulled her guns from her bag. He smiled understandingly upon seeing them.

"You can get them at the academy, they're only standard issue rounds but they should do the job." Yukio suggested.

"Thanks, you're a Dragoon right? You must know about all kinds of interesting stuff to shoot with. What's the best?" she asked. Chio felt more than a little embarrassed with herself, she was acting like a fangirl and that was beyond weird. It had to be that she was just excited at the prospect of meeting such a successful exorcist and having said exorcist be her new friend.

"I personally like the silver and holy water combination rounds, but it's more about personal taste really, Are you aiming for Dragoon as your Meister?" asked Yukio. In short yes, she was, but primarily her weapon was her staff. Whether or not that counted as a sword and meant she ought to aim for Knight she couldn't fathom. Life was long, she'd just go for both somehow.

"I guess, I'm a little torn though. I have this other thi-" suddenly a loud call interrupted her, whether she was glad it did or not she didn't really know.

"YUKIO!" Rin called repeatedly. Chio could hear him jogging down the hall and true to her ears, he eventually emerged next to his brother at her door.

"Nii-san, is everything okay?" Yukio asked.

"Where did you go off to, I thought you wanted us to study? I aint wastin' all night staring at books you know." Rin said in annoyance.

"I was just talking to Chio-san, she mentioned she was interested in becoming a Dragoon. With her impressive combat skills, it would be a suitable option" Yukio said. Chio tried not to turn red, he was just being nice, but she had very little experience when it came to actually interacting with boys in a non-violent manner.

"Dragoon? No way. Knights the way to go, right Chio?" Rin said cheekily, elbowing Yukio teasingly. Chio could have strangled herself, these two were the literal embodiment of her difficulty in deciding.

"I think both are pretty cool choices, I don't think I could pick something that didn't involve a handheld weapon anyhow, seeing as its more fun that way. Anyway, I'm probably distracting you from your studies, don't feel the need to stay and talk." she said awkwardly.

It was enough that they'd agreed to let her stay here in the boy's dorm, but they had also been so welcoming. The last thing she wanted to do was become a burden.

"Don't be stupid. This is way more fun than all that homework moley four-eyes gives out." Rin said pointedly, giving Yukio a look that Chio just knew was filled with smugness. Yukio merely pushed up his glasses, the light reflecting off them menacingly. She kept her lips pursed to avoid giggling.

"I wouldn't need assign so much work if you weren't failing Nii-san." Yukio retorted, his tone rather dark. Chio burst into laughter.

"You guys are hilarious, you remind me of my sister and I when we were young." she said, realizing after that she'd revealed a rather overly-specific bit of her past. The brothers looked intrigued by her mention of a sister.

"You have a sister?" Rin asked. Yukio kept quiet, clearly as interested to know as Rin.

"Yeah, well she's my half sister technically but we grew up as best friends. I didn't know she was my biological sister until…until my parents died. We're nothing alike, we don't even get along anymore. Things were different when we were little though; we were close like you two are" Chio explained wistfully.

Yukio and gave her a look of sympathy, and Rin just frowned.

"She's your sister isn't she though? Why don't you get along anymore?" he asked. Yukio frowned at him, recognizing the question as intrusive, but Chio for the first time felt okay with answering it.

"She isn't the same as when we were kids; I know people change but after my parents died I really noticed the change in her. Now that I look back it was happening way before. It wasn't a good change. She isn't a nice person now" she explained bluntly. As much as Chio had come to like Rin, she couldn't help but feel irked by his blatant disagreement with her's and Ume's status as sisters.

It wasn't his fault though, he didn't know all the details so he wasn't working off the truth really.

"I guess that makes sense, come on Yukio let's get this homework over with." Rin sighed. Yukio gave her an apologetic glance before following his brother back to their shared room, Kuro at his feet.

Chio suddenly felt very alone, she did miss Ume, but it wasn't current Ume it was past Ume from her childhood. That Ume was gone, consumed by her demonic power and riddled with rage. She hastily unpacked the last couple boxes and filled in the first few questions on the homework sheet before giving in to her own tiredness and heading to bed. The bed was a pain to make when she was already so tired, but it was worth it when she actually lied down and shut her eyes.

She really hoped it would be a nightmare free night. But hope isn't always enough.

 **Darkness everywhere, the only light source was the burning inferno surrounding her. Her father screamed as the orange fire licked over his skin. Run he said, run and get out. But she couldn't get out, the fire was blocking the door. That's wrong! The fires hadn't blocked the door before. But alas now they were, burning angrily. His voice thundered through the house, calling her, mocking her. Chio felt her hot tears running down her neck. You can't run, he said, I am your family now, he said. Her feet burned as she dashed though the flames to try and pry open the front door, it was supposed to open, why wouldn't it open?**

 **Ume was gone; she had run away and left her to die here. Her mother was dead, gruesomely slain by the beast that called himself her father while her true father lay burning to death under a piece of the ceiling. She couldn't do anything, save anyone. And now she couldn't escape, couldn't wrap her fingers tightly enough around the door knob to twist it open. The fires raged and grew, travelling over her skin as the beast looked down at her. He stood atop her now dead father, her mangled mother thrown over his shoulder like a scarf. It burned, so much, and she screamed. Her normally tanned skin was still glowing faintly purple while the flames scorched it. The beast laughed at her pain, twisting his toe claws into her father's burnt back like he was minced meat...**

"Chio, Chio wake up!" a voice called worriedly.

She felt her eyes shoot open; the Okumura brothers were kneeling beside her bed.

"Are you okay? You were screaming so we came to check on you." Rin said, his sword clenched in his hand. Looking to Yukio, she noticed he had his gun in his hand too.

"I had a nightmare. I'm sorry I woke you up, what time is it?" Chio asked, desperate to deflect from what had just happened. Sweat was lining her skin, she could feel it.

"It's around 2am, what were you dreaming about? You were screaming some weird crap." Rin asked, a strange look in his eye.

"What did I say?" she asked fearfully. Chio prayed she hadn't said anything to incriminate herself.

"You said, _"Don't kill me Father"_ , and _"It burns"_ , and _"Help me"_ " Yukio said, his tone strangely calm for a man who had just burst into a room with a gun.

Chio was suddenly very aware of her tail, which was thankfully hidden under the sheets; her ears were still disguised by her hair too. So she had said something incriminating.

"I'm so sorry, I don't know what I must've been dreaming of" Chio said, faking a laugh. The boys looked at her curiously, disbelief seated in their eyes.

"So your dad never tried to kill you?" Rin asked, carefully watching her. Yukio gave him another warning look, which he ignored.

"No, my dad was a very nice guy. He wouldn't try to kill me" Chio said. And it was true, her adoptive father had been exactly that. However Asmodeus was not. That night had been replaying in her head almost every time she tried to sleep for years now, and she wouldn't forget it. The night she had awakened to her demonic heritage, the night she had lost her parents, the night she had been introduced to her demon father.

"Do you have these nightmares often?" Yukio asked, his voice turning sympathetic. Chio felt incredibly weak now, and almost wanted to ask them to leave. How had they even heard her? Mephisto had sworn she'd be unheard in this part of the dorm.

"Nearly every night, but it doesn't matter. I'm used to it" Chio answered. She was not weak.

"I would recommend drinking some herbal tea before bed to calm your nerves and help you sleep deeper. Shiemi's shop sells some excellent sleep herbs, if you're interested you could come along to the shop with Rin and I next time we go" Yukio suggested. Chio smiled, while she had tried a lot of shop bought remedies for her nightmare issue, she had never tried specially grown herbal teas before. It was a very kind thought.

"Sure, that sounds great actually, thank you. By the way, how did you guys hear me?" she asked. The boys exchanged a glance.

"I stole mole-face's glasses and drew smaller moley faces on the lenses, so he chased me down here and we heard you when we got close enough" Rin admitted bashfully. Taking a closer look at Yukio's glasses, Chio noticed the looked as though someone had tried hard to rub ink off of them. She laughed, smiling at her new dorm mates. If this was the kind of stuff that happened in a boy's dorm, she didn't think she'd mind staying here for the foreseeable future.

/

It was the last class of the day before she could head off to cram school, and Chio felt her head lolling forward and then back as she tried to concentrate on what the plump woman was saying to the class. She was exhausted, having slept poorly because of her bad dream and despite wanting to stay awake and listen she just couldn't. Chio fumbled for her skirt pocket and pulled out the packet of caramel cups. Hopefully the sugar rush would keep her up long enough to finish the class. She'd have to thank Oro-sensei if it worked.

Oro-sensei had been her taekwondo instructor before her parents had died, shortly before that fateful night he had left to travel the world. Initially she had thought that'd be the end of her friendship with the old coot, but every month he'd send her a box of candies from wherever he was. This month it was somewhere in Europe and honestly, Chio thought Europe had the best and creamiest chocolate she'd ever tasted. These caramel cups were literally the best.

"Miss Mayami, if you could please restrain yourself from eating in my class?" the teacher said sternly while glaring. Chio beat back a groan.

The damn woman had to be blind if she didn't see that Chio was nearly capsizing on her desk, these candies were the only way she'd stay awake. Quite frankly, she didn't feel like being lectured for sleeping in class by this woman.

"Sorry Ma'am" she grumbled, stuffing the candy back in her pocket. Her eyes felt heavier as the seconds ticked by; in fact she could have sworn the clock stopped for a moment to spite her. She swayed in her seat, and just as she was about to face plant the desk the classroom door creaked open.

"Sorry to interrupt, but Sir Pheles has asked to see Mayami Chio in his office immediately" Yukio said with a gentle smile. What a godsend.

It was no secret that women around the academy saw him as some sort of teenaged angel, the teacher would no doubt let her go even if she desperately wanted to see Chio fall asleep on the desk. Chio didn't know whether to be grateful that the box of tricks wanted to see her, or annoyed. At least she was getting out of class.

"Fine, but I expect you wide awake next time I see you" the fat woman grunted, failing epically to disguise her favoritism of Yukio.

If she could have, Chio would've fist pumped the air. She was free. She gathered her things quickly and made a beeline for the door, Yukio beaming in his usual polite style.

"What does the cracker want from me?" she asked, giving Yukio a suspicious glance. Had Mephisto told him anything about her powers? Was she being outed?

"I don't know, he has merely requested you come to his office immediately." Yukio answered with a shrug.

Chio huffed; this cracker wasn't making her life easy at all. She watched with increasing irritation as Yukio twisted his magic key in a nearby door, creating a more direct route to Mephisto's office. Before long she found herself accosted with the hideous sight of his pink door. Yukio knocked and it was pulled open almost immediately revealing a rather strangely composed Mephisto.

"Ichigo-san, Okumura-sensei. Thank you for coming so quickly, but I'm afraid I need to talk to Ichigo-san in private. If you would, Okumura-sensei?" he said, gesturing back to the hall behind them. Yukio remained his cool and collected self, nodding once in agreement before leaving.

However, Chio could've sworn she saw his face twitch ever so slightly as though he'd wanted to frown. Following the cracker into his office, Chio noticed his desk was in disarray and the sleeve of his suit was jagged as though something had torn it. Suddenly the once composed principal spun to face her, a look of sheer desperation on his face.

"Ichigo-san, come quickly now we haven't much time before it digests my controller" he cried, pulling her off into an adjoining room. He slammed the doors shut behind them, sweat threatening to drip from his face. What was he talking about? Digest? Controller? Chio scowled.

"What are you going on about you crazy bastard?" she said, her head was beginning to hurt.

A growling sound erupted from behind her, and to her surprise there was a large cage containing what looked like an apple tree. Except it wasn't a normal apple tree. The tree in the cage was clearly possessed by something, the bark warped into a disturbing face with a mouth full of pointed curling teeth. It was looking at them as though it wanted nothing more than to eat them. Looking closer, she noticed a pink game controller lodged in the back of it's mouth.

"What is this?" Chio said impatiently. This whole damn situation was exactly the kind of thing she expected from Mephisto, she wanted nothing more than to leave.

"That my dear is a Japanese apple tree, possessed by a simple demon" Mephisto explained, his smarmy demeanor slightly restored. Chio sighed.

"I know that, but why is it in your office?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. The tree was hissing and scratching at the bars of the cage, it's apple filled branches jostling around.

"Apples from a possessed tree taste far sweeter than those from a regular tree. I intended to use them for a cake. Unfortunately it managed to get a hold of one of my custom pink controllers, and it won't allow me to take it back" he said, looking rather pale. Chio burst into some short laughter, which was quickly silenced by a glare from the principal.

"So why am I here?" she asked, feeling even more impatient.

"I would like you to use your demon powers to make the tree relinquish my controller" Mephisto exclaimed, as though it were the most brilliant plan. In all honesty it was, but it relied on Chio to be that nice. Which she wasn't.

"Why should I help you? You said I was forbidden to use my power. What's in it for me?" she challenged, eyeing the apple tree as the controller began to dislodge in it's mouth.

Mephisto blanched, eyes narrowing at her bold statement and then widening as he too noticed the tree slowly wrapping it's slimy tongue around the edge of the controller.

"What do you want?" he asked testily.

"A favor. Whenever I want, whatever I want. You can't refuse me." she answered. Looking her dead in the eye, Mephisto smirked.

"Deal, if you retrieve my controller..." He said simply.

Chio grinned, and then quickly turned to face the caged apple tree again. As she neared it the tree got angrier, thrashing and shaking it's cage like an aggressive dog. Pulling out her staff she quickly assembled it and gave it the final twist, releasing her powers from their confinement. She felt her body heat up off the rush of power, and her eyes dilate as she took on her demon form. Locking her eyes on the tree creature, she petrified it with her hypnotic power. The power she had inherited from her father.

It's will like the will of all living beings, was like a bubble she merely had to push through. It was weak and unprotected as normal. Flashing her eyes, she willed the possessed fruit tree to open it's mouth wide and stay still. It did so with ease, submitting to her illusory abilities as everything did. As soon as it was still, she reached through the abused bars of the cage and into its jagged mouth.

Chio wasn't at all scared; she knew she had complete control. Her fingers wrapped around the bright pink game controller, and with a little bit of work she pried it from the cluster of bark teeth. As soon as she had her hand out of the cage she let go of her mental hold on the tree demon by disassembling her staff, and as predicted it burst into an even larger rage upon realizing it had been had.

"There, take your toy. When I need my favor you'll be seeing me" she said simply, handing the decidedly spit sap-coated controller to Mephisto who looked at it with a mix of emotions.

Chio wiped her hand on her knee sock and retrieved her candy from her pocket. It was about time she got to eat it after dealing with all this.

"Thank you, I will be sure to appropriately repay you when the need arises" he said mischievously. He pushed the doors open, fresh air circulating after the stressful encounter with the tree creature. Well it was stressful for one of them at least. Hint, it wasn't Chio.

"You better, I'm not overly fond of your weird behavior as is" Chio grumbled, shoving a caramel cup in her mouth. Mephisto didn't immediately answer her.

"Aniue, where do you keep the fruit suckers?" a foreign voice asked. Looking to the source of said voice, Chio was greeted with the sight of a tall boy with two-toned green hair perched on Mephisto's desk. That wasn't even the strangest aspect; his clothes were rather abnormal, almost haunting to look at. At his feet sat one of the largest hobgoblins she had ever seen.

"What are you doing here? I told you I'm not buying you candy anymore" Mephisto scolded. The boy remained silent and impassive, as though he wasn't taking Mephisto seriously in the slightest.

His blue eyes flickered to her, and then shot down to the packet of chocolates in her hand. Mephisto must have noticed this, because he pushed Chio forward slightly.

"How rude of me, Amaimon, this is Mayami Ichigo. She'd a student here at the academy. Ichigo-san, this is Amaimon" Mephisto said, his lips quirking dangerously into a smile. Chio snarled.

"You damn cracker, I told you to stop calling my by that name. It's Chio, C-H-I-O. If you call me that one more time I'll feed you to that weird tree you have caged up in there" she threatened, waving her gun in his face. The Principal only grinned as though he had expected her reaction. The boy, Amaimon, looked on with no signs of interest whatsoever.

In a flash he stood directly in front of her, towering above her shortness. His eyes were still focused solely on her bag of chocolates.

"Ichigo? So your name is strawberry?" he said curiously, cocking his head to the side. Chio almost felt her face flush, but focused on controlling herself. She scowled at him.

"Yeah, but everyone calls me Chio. Except this asshole, he always gets it wrong" she said hotly, glaring at Mephisto. Amaimon continued to glance between her, Mephisto, and her candy. More her candy than anywhere else... Amaimon? Hadn't she heard that name somewhere before? Nah probably not.

Sighing impatiently, she grabbed his pale wrist and brought his hand up so she could pour some of the chocolates into it. Surprisingly, his fingernails were jet black and sharp.

"There, next time just ask" she said nonchalantly. Amaimon got closer to her, stopping only inches away from her face while still holding the candies in his hand. Chio couldn't decide if he was trying to come across as threatening or just playing with her. He was pretty cute though, with his interesting hair and well put together facial features. He was attractive. She frowned and quickly walked away, heading for the hideous pink door again.

"Nice to meet you but I have somewhere to be. Don't do anything stupid that I'll have to come fix you cracker" she said snidely, quickly leaving. Mephisto chuckled to himself for the millionth time since they'd met, as though he knew everything.

As soon as the putrid pink door shut behind her, she let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding in. What was wrong with her just now, giving her candy to strangers, feeling…like that? Chio couldn't afford such feelings, no matter how fleeting. She quickly headed to the nearest door and shoved her key in, revealing the familiar multi-colored walls of the cram school.

/

 **Well there it is. I honestly don't know how this went. I wanted the meeting to be... better. And the fight between Chio and Shima was hard to put on paper. Well this is hardly paper but you get me. I hope its okay! Please Review, I love hearing what you think :)**

 **Sincerely, LostWaffle.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi, I want to say thanks again for all my lovely reviews, and for reading in general!**

 **I hope my way of writing Amaimon is okay... Anyway, I tried to make him seem genuine but I do apologize if he is abnormal.**

 **The** / **that I put is supposed to be like a timeskip or separator type thing by the way, if that was not clear. I realize they don't show up in the quantities I originally put them and for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to place page break thingies! Oh well, I think I got it now!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Blue Exorcist, only my OC.**

* * *

 **Chapter 3:** An Accidental Stabbing

 **Amaimon POV**

He examined her face close up, looking for signs of ill intent or amusement. She had just grabbed him so casually as though he were anyone. Sure she had poured candy into his hand, but still. Her face was well arranged. Soft looking lips, caramel skin, and large purple eyes framed by thick lashes and elegant brows. Conventionally pretty yet she scowled like an angry boar. Amaimon saw no deceit in her eyes. Before he could say anything about her casual behavior towards himself and his brother, or ask why she was even here, she had stormed away.

"Nice to meet you but I have somewhere to be. Don't do anything stupid that I'll have to come fix you cracker." she said, not even turning to glance back.

What could she possibly have fixed? Why was she referring to his Aniue as a savory biscuit? Perhaps this was what these humans called "pet names" names of affection for those they were involved with. Was his brother involved with a student here? Surely not, he valued their pathetic lives so highly he wouldn't dare.

"Aniue, who was she?" Amaimon asked curiously. Behemoth growled at his feet, seeming equally put out by this strange woman. Mephisto grinned, leaning against his desk in the usual manner.

"Ichigo-san is a student here, she is also an exorcist in training. I called her here to deal with Maruto-chan, he took my custom controller. After you got grease all over the other one I couldn't let this one go." he exclaimed.

So she was an exorcist in training like Rin? Not very interesting. Despite this, he couldn't fathom how a mere human girl who wasn't even a qualified exorcist had managed to get his brother's possessed apple tree to give back anything it tried to eat. Amaimon would know, he had procured the tree for Mephisto after all. Was she powerful, some sort of supposed prodigy here in Assiah? Those eyes held secrets that much he knew. Dark, bloody, and frightening secrets…

Amaimon loved all those types of things.

"If you're just going to stand there and stare at nothing you may as well leave. I have no more candies here, you've eaten them all. Apart from what's in your hand anyway." Mephisto said, sipping a cup of tea with an amused look on his face.

Looking down at his still cupped hand he saw that the chocolates were still there. Shoving them into his mouth he felt his eye twitch. They were good, like nothing he had tasted here in Japan before. They had to be foreign, or homemade, or illegal. Aniue had said there was nothing else around here for him to eat, so he would go to the source of this new candy. Turning on his heel he headed for the door, tugging Behemoth along behind him.

"Don't kill her Amaimon." Mephisto said, not looking up from his work.

Amaimon said nothing back, there was no point in killing her, at least not yet. He would take the remainders of her candies, force her to disclose the source, then maybe he'd remove one of her pretty purple eyes for his cousin seeing as only murder was clearly forbidden by his Aniue. The strange boy truly had been annoyed when Amaimon hadn't brought him back a green one from that blonde girl Rin liked so much. Purple was far rarer than green, so surely that would make up for it. Yes, her eyes were rather beautiful.

He had waited a good few hours before she finally emerged from the main school and started walking off to her home, wherever that was. He trailed her, jumping from tree to streetlamp to building effortlessly. She wasn't doing anything notable. He was about to pounce and demand she give him all her candy, lest he carve out her heart, when she pulled out something shiny from her bag and began moving it back and forth against the tips of her fingers.

"What is she doing Behemoth?" he mumbled quietly, in truth he had left his familiar in a tree near his brother's playground of a school, but he knew the hobgoblin could still hear him. Being King of Earth came with such perks.

The hobgoblin didn't reply, he never did, and Amaimon continued to follow his prey. He enjoyed the game of chase, and the promise of a worthy reward was too much for him to turn down. Perhaps this shiny thing was a candy; he would get a closer look and see for himself. With a breath he hopped from the top of one of the derelict buildings and onto another streetlamp. Strawberry girl, or rather Chio as she had said she preferred to be called, slowly approached it. The shiny thing was more or less concealed in her hands, so instinctively Amaimon leaned closer to see it better. He was straining, his hands gripping the metal of the lamp like a vice so he could see what she was holding. Then he slipped.

* * *

 **Chio PoV**

The file moved fluidly against her fingernails, filing away the sharpness. They had been learning about the properties of holy water in class and for some reason when Shiemi had unknowingly shoved a sloshy cup of it into her hands, rather than outright burn her fingertips like she had expected, it had only ruined the tips of her fingernails. Perhaps having your demon powers sealed in a weapon had it's benefits.

So here she was now, heading back to the dorms, filing the damage off hastily so that she could get a start on the cupcakes she was planning to bake for Rin and Yukio. The younger twin had kindly offered to take care of food costs for her as he did Rin and himself, seeing as she was putting all her free time into studying for cram and regular classes. Chio figured the very least she could do was help with the cooking and cleaning as well as getting good grades. The cupcakes would be her first step in saying thank you.

She heard a rustling of leaves coming from somewhere behind her and almost turned to look but decided she was just being paranoid. The whole academy was well protected against demons, so if anything was following her it was nothing more than a mere animal. If it was a person, that was just as easy to deal with.

The streets were dimly lit by the setting sun; it wouldn't be long till the lamps came on. She wanted to get home before that. The sound of rubber on metal accosted her ears suddenly, and a muffled gasp came from above. An immense weight was thrown on her from above, and a sharp pain was sent searing across her right shoulder. Taking a moment to get her bearings she realized what, or rather who, was on top of her.

"What the hell are you doing?" she screeched indignantly, rage coursing through her body alongside the pain.

It was Amaimon or whatever; he had fallen from the sky and on top of her. Chio caught sight of the streetlamp directly above them. Oh, so he wasn't falling from the sky he was following her. More rage coursed through her.

"I wanted more candy. Tell me where you keep it." he said, not budging from his position above her. Chio tried to scramble free, only for the intense pain in her shoulder to turn fiery, causing her to cry out.

Craning her neck, she realized why. The long nail file was a few inches deep in her flesh. Following the blade up, she noticed that it had also somehow stuck itself into Amaimon's corresponding shoulder. His burgundy, almost purplish blood was slowly seeping through his clothes and down the file.

"Candy isn't important right now." she choked, bringing his attention to their shared stabbing. He looked at it, and quickly pulled himself off of her and the blade, no traces of pain on his face at all.

"Fuck, who the hell creeps around like this after candy?" she hissed, gingerly touching the still deeply embedded file in her shoulder. Amaimon didn't answer, just watched her as though she were some anomaly for even speaking to him.

Gripping the bloodied file, she grit her teeth and pulled it out quickly. The blood stain on her shoulder widened considerably mixing further into her wound with the darker, thicker blood Amaimon had lost from his own wound. For some strange reason it almost tingled.

"Ugh, your blood is all mixed into my cut. You should probably come with me to the dorms to get patched up." Chio said.

Amaimon's head shot up at this, his once calm blue eyes wide and alarmed. Was he so against travelling with her to get bandaged at some dormitory that it scared him? He pulled at his coat revealing an equally large blood stain in his own strange shade. He gave her a deathly look, before hurriedly getting to his feet and dusting himself off. Chio watched in astonishment as he marched off and made to jump onto another street lamp and undoubtedly disappear.

"Wait, you need to get that looked at. Crap, where are you going? You can't just stalk someone, fall on them and then leave!" Chio said angrily. Of course he didn't listen to her; he just looked at her with those cold blue eyes of his and jumped away. Chio couldn't shake the feeling that behind them there was far more going on than anyone thought.

"Asshole..." she muttered. Turning to grab her things she hurried on to the dorms. The sun was setting and the last thing she needed was to be out in the dark with a bloody shoulder wound. God knows what she'd attract.

* * *

 **Amaimon PoV**

Amaimon clenched his jaw as he stormed through the academy's halls, damn it all. He hoped that his suspicions were wrong. He hadn't expected his fall to cause such problems, he didn't even get any candy from the girl. That cursed shiny object had been nothing more than a blunting device for fingernails, and it had stabbed him through the shoulder.

It wasn't like that was even the issue; he'd already healed on his way here. The issue was her being stabbed as well, or rather, her being stabbed and his blood mixing in her wound. In Gehenna, blood mixing was part of a sacred ritual used to bond. Bonding there was the equivalent of marriage without any chance of divorce. If he was correct, due to not having any of her blood mixed into his own wound, the ritual was unfinished. That was if it even counted as viable, he really didn't make it his business to know this crap.

Mephisto would know, he would be able to fix this ridiculous series of events. All this for some candy, it was laughable. It wasn't even that good. Okay, that wasn't necessarily the truth, that candy was excellent. Once Amaimon had ironed out this small wrinkle he would return and demand the information from her, or perhaps just threaten her life until she gave to him, then kill her. Yes, he'd most definitely kill her after she got him stabbed like that.

So he told Mephisto everything, from following her to her home to falling on her, to her rather courageously tearing the blade from her own shoulder. Yes it had been a wonderful sight to behold until her notice of their mixed blood had spoiled his good mood. He had been expecting his brother to scold his careless behavior, to become angry at him for endangering one of his precious human students. Instead he laughed.

"And you fell on her? Just like that? Goodness brother, I never would have thought you'd be the type to fall over yourself because of a woman" he chuckled.

Despite finding great amusement in Amaimon's troubles, he kept his slender fingers laced together on the desk in an almost predatory fashion. That told Amaimon that he did in fact know more than he was letting on.

"It was more because of the candy, but regardless, the issue is not my falling but what happened after. My blood dripped into her wound, if the rules of the bond still apply here in Assiah that would make us…" he trailed off, not really knowing the end of his own sentence.

"It would make you bonded for the rest of your life, if you had both exchanged blood. But seeing as only you offered your blood to mix with hers, it is an incomplete bond" Mephisto drawled, as though it were obvious.

"So what does that mean Aniue? Can't I just kill her and be done with this?" Amaimon pressed, nibbling a fingernail impatiently.

Mephisto merely smirked.

"Really? I would have thought you'd listened more to what we were taught brother. Had you both exchanged blood and completed the ritual your life energies would be forever joined and should one of you die, the other would be unaffected. However only you gave your blood, so only your life energy is tied to her. This creates an imbalance. For all extensive purposes, your life depends on her until you share energies. So no, you cannot kill her without killing yourself." Mephisto explained grandly, looking highly amused.

Amaimon fought off the desire to slash the eyes off of the first human he saw. He could not be bonded to that pathetic woman. He was so much more than her; he was a Demon King, a son of Satan. He wasn't some human woman's play-thing to keep hanging by a thread.

"How do I remove this…problem" he said coldly, avoiding his brother's gaze and choosing to instead stare out the window.

"You have two choices dearest brother, either finish the bond making her your wife. She would spend eternity by your side, living as long as you due to your own immortality. Or, wait until she grows old and dies of natural causes, then the bond will disintegrate and you will be free. A long wait for definite, but perhaps it's better than a lifetime with her hmm?" Mephisto said thoughtfully.

"If I were to wait for Ichigo to die of old age, what would happen if she were killed before that? She wants to be an exorcist after all, surely some demon will eventually kill her." Amaimon pondered.

What would happen if someone else murdered her? Would he still die? Such a weakness couldn't be tolerated.

"I don't think she is as easily destroyed as you believe her to be. But if such a thing were to happen, she would pull you with her to the end" Mephisto said, without a single trace of sympathy.

Amaimon wanted a sucker, or a piece of cake, or someone to skin. He had never felt this trapped before, when someone posed a threat to him he would kill them, simply slaughter them and anyone else who got in his way. He had no desire to bond, especially to a lowly human. Even if it was purely to patch up this issue, demon bonds were serious. For the rest of his eternity he could only be with her and never anyone else. Amaimon might have been ruthless and obsessed with playing as he saw fit, but when he wanted to _play_ in that way with someone that was what he did, nothing more.

Attachment made you weak and just got in the way.

Being the King of Earth and a Prince meant there was always some pathetic demon woman in Gehenna ready and willing to accompany him to bed. It meant nothing to him, it was no more than a cheap thrill. He didn't do "marriage" as it was called here in Assiah; it was filled with restraint and obligation he had no time for. Some clingy human woman hanging off him for the rest of his life was not ideal. He would rather die than be forced to deal with such disgusting circumstance.

Above all else, demons didn't love. Any bonding in Gehenna was for the sake of politics and material gain.

"Well, what will you do? If you choose to wait for her to pass you'll need to be diligent. Should anything happen to slip under your radar, you'll find yourself gone from this world. Think of the enemies you have who would love to use her as a method of erasing you" Mephisto laughed bitterly.

"I have no choice. I'll have to wait until she dies naturally." Amaimon said, picking at his sharp nails some more.

"Then you have a task ahead of you. Humans while very interesting, tend to adore danger. Especially exorcists, no matter where they go the find themselves facing death. With the attention our dear brother is attracting with those flames you can bet she'll be in constant peril." his brother said joyously.

"If I'm going to be forced to guard her to preserve my own life, I might as well use it for my own entertainment" Amaimon replied, pulling on his coat to search out the girl for a second time.

Humans were weak. Amaimon would protect her to protect himself, but only when she was about to breathe her second to last breath. Only when her heart was one beat away from stopping. Only when she was about to stop living would he actually intervene. This was her fault. He had so many better things to do, if he was going to be chained to her he might as well be amused by her struggles. Yes, her many struggles.

"Be careful with your assumptions brother, you might find she surprises you. Things are rarely what they seem after all" Mephisto said with his normal air of mystery.

Amaimon ignored him. As far as he was concerned, she was his new toy, a title earned by people who annoyed him a little too much. Silently he wondered if dying of exhaustion would count as a natural death.

* * *

 **Chio PoV**

The boy's dorm had never looked more appealing.

Clutching her now blood-soaked red shoulder, she pushed in through the door, throwing her things down almost immediately. Rin and Yukio had to be home by now. She had intentionally stayed late to take a few books from the library, which she now regretted considering she'd had to carry them here with a bloody shoulder.

Stumbling into the kitchen, she could hear Rin chopping vegetables with Ukobach. Chio hated asking for help, but she was feeling lightheaded now and she had lost a considerable amount of blood. With her demon powers she would be healed up by tomorrow morning, but right now she was feeling like shit. For some reason her healing was weirdly delayed, Chio put it down to exhaustion.

"Rin?"

"In here." his voice called from within the pantry.

She hobbled further in, immediately grabbing some paper towels from the counter and soaking up some of the blood running down her arm. Rin turned to greet her, but stopped in his tracks when he noticed her current state.

"Chio, what happened?" he asked, having her lean against him. Chio would've pushed him off if she had the energy, but at the moment she just wanted to sleep.

"Who did this to you?" he asked, his voice rising.

At this moment Yukio burst in, followed by Kuro who had apparently seen the entire thing and gone to find him despite the language barrier.

"Chio, are you alright? Let's get you cleaned up and treat your wounds. Then we can talk about how this happened." Yukio said quickly.

The two brothers helped her into the main cafeteria and sat her down. Rin left in pursuit of Yukio's first aid kit, while Yukio helped peel off the fabric around her wound. The blood was congealing, so it stung.

"You'll have to take this off Chio-san, I can't wrap your shoulder like this..." Yukio said, giving her an apologetic look.

Chio flushed, but quickly used her free hand to unbutton her shirt. With a little help from Yukio they had it off in no time. She had no reason to feel awkward, not only was Yukio her teacher and a Doctor, but he was also her friend. Chio tried to keep her cool despite being in her bra, but of course Rin walked in and went fire-engine red almost instantly.

"Y-Yukio, what are you doing to Chio?" he stuttered. Chio groaned, then hissed when she felt antiseptic being rubbed over her wound.

"Calm down Nii-san, I'm merely preparing to treat her wounds. It was impossible with her blouse on." Yukio explained, still the epitome of professionalism.

"Okay." Rin whispered, the color in his face fading while he tried to look elsewhere. Chio wasn't stupid, she knew she had some pretty good stuff up top as most girls did, but that didn't mean she was crazy about getting them out.

She tried not to tense up as Yukio applied wrappings and pads; eventually she was done and quickly exited to get a new shirt from her room after thanking them for their help. Of course they expected Chio back to talk about how things had happened though. She almost felt a little guilty, Yukio's work wouldn't be necessary in a few hours.

Grabbing a pajama shirt she headed back to the cafeteria, as she passed her bedroom window she almost swore she saw a flash of green. But it was probably nothing. Rin and Yukio sat waiting at the table, a pot of spaghetti in the centre that Rin had evidently been cooking before her arrival.

"Here eat, you must be exhausted" Rin said, pushing a bowl toward her. Chio graciously accepted it and served herself some food. As always, it was excellent.

"So tell us what happened, knife crime is unusual at the academy, so if someone's running around stabbing people it needs to be dealt with." Yukio said firmly. Chio sweat-dropped. It had been so not like that.

"It wasn't that, I know it sounds crazy but it really was just an accident." she muttered awkwardly. They didn't look convinced at all.

"How so?" Rin asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I was walking home filing my nails, and this guy was um, was following me because he wanted…something. He fell on me and we both got stabbed in the shoulder with the file." she said. Explaining it, she realized how terrible it sounded.

"So he'd of had to have been directly on top of you to have both been stabbed that way" Yukio said, his glasses shining ominously.

"What exactly did he want from you huh?" Rin asked, clenching his fist around his fork. Did they think Amaimon had tried to…?

"It wasn't like that, Amaimon was just being weird and sitting on top of the streetlamp, he fell and landed on me." she insisted. The boy's faces froze, then contorted into expressions of shock.

"Did you say Amaimon?" Rin asked stonily. Chio nodded, confused as to why they were so shocked.

"Nii-san, I think this is a conversation best left for another day..." Yukio said warily. Rin shook his head.

"No, Amaimon is dnagerous. She has to know the truth if he's following her around and stuff!" he exclaimed.

"Tell me then" Chio said sternly.

She was eager to understand how Amaimon had such a reputation.

* * *

 **Hey! I never thought I'd be writing like this honestly... I hope everything was okay.**

 **I'm probably going to aim to update at least once a week, when things pick up at school and work it might thin out though. I won't leave this unfinished though! I seem to like all the pairings and stories that are scarce at the moment, so I feel like that's where I'd go if I write other things in the *far* future :)**

 **As always, leave me your opinions and thanks for reading!**

 **Sincerely, LostWaffle xxx**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello everyone! I know this update is a little late, but I got caught up with some school stuff so I had to neglect this. Never fear though, I won't abandon it no matter what! Thank you for all the follows and reviews so far, it's super encouraging to see people taking interest and liking what I write here.**

 **IMPORTANT PLOT NOTICE: I am making it so that Shura hasn't taught an actual class since Chio joined the Cram school, she was sick or on a mission or something. Yeah. Neuhaus will still leave when he normally does, but just imagine a nameless substitute teacher will have been teaching Shura's/Neuhaus' class until THIS chapter in which Shura returns and meets Chio. Shura will still make all the appearances she has so far in the anime that aren't in a classroom, like the peg lantern test, theme park, and all that other non-classroom jazzery. You get me.**

 **I hope that makes sense. Other than that enjoy the new chapter :)**

 **Disclaimer - I don't own Blue Exorcist.**

* * *

 **Chapter 4 -** Cupcake Conundrum

 **Amaimon's PoV**

He watched as the youngest Okumura stripped her of her shirt and began to bandage the stab wound from their earlier encounter. Ha. Did that pathetic excuse for a son of Satan think he had a shot? He better not, as far as Amaimon was concerned Ichigo was his newest toy, and the King of Earth didn't share toys with anyone.

It wasn't that Amaimon had any attachment to the girl. In fact he was eager for her to befall some tragedy or go through a personal crisis, just so he could watch her break, but he had observed the tendencies of the youngest twin and didn't want him getting in the way of his play.

Rin arrived carrying what Amaimon knew to be one of the human wound treatment boxes, and promptly lost his composure over the state of undress his friend was in and the position his brother _appeared_ to be in. Rin might've been powerful enough to best him in one battle, but he was an idiot a lot of the time. It was a trait Amaimon looked forward to using against him in future, should his Aniue give him the green light.

Amaimon knew better than to cross his Aniue when plans were in place.

Chio eventually ran off to collect new clothing from her room, and Amaimon took an opportunity to really look at her. She was bouncy. Bouncy on top and bouncy down low, but she had defined muscle. So she was clearly a fighter...to some degree. Somewhat interesting, he filed away that for later and peered some more. He didn't blame his half brother for looking so blown away when she'd removed her blouse, she could be considered quite desirable to men.

Amaimon supposed he could spend the next few decades ruining her relationships, if she killed herself maybe he'd be freed of their blood-bond early. He'd ask Mephisto about that later. Suddenly she turned to glance out the window on her way out, nearly seeing him. Amaimon ducked down out of view, feeling his heart beat almost speed up. Almost.

While she was gone, he let himself into her room through the partially open window.

It was an interesting room, a wardrobe sat half open, clothes of all kinds poking out. Her desk was littered with meticulously organized stacks of homework and school supplies. One bed was unused, while the other was clearly hers as the covers were slightly askew. A small bookshelf held numerous novels and volumes of manga, some old some new. Amaimon recognized many of them, having the tendency to pick up books and manga when bored. It was an out of character thing for him to most people, but anyone who really knew him knew that if it could cure his boredom he would gladly do it. She had good taste at least.

What caught his attention next was a series of photo frames that littered themselves around the room, one by the bed, another on the desk, a few on the shelves. All of them held different pictures of the same people, a man and a woman with two children. One was clearly a younger Ichigo, the other an even younger child no older than maybe six. Ichigo looked nothing like these people. If they were her parents she was clearly adopted or illegitimate. One lone frame held a picture of a fair skinned blonde girl and Ichigo, both of them grinning over melting ice creams. They had the same eyes.

In the back of his mind Amaimon wondered if they were somehow related. Perhaps.

Reflecting back to their first meeting and his close proximity with her earlier, he realized that the entire room smelled like her. It was a rich sugary smell, not exactly artificial. Like a scented cake or baked fruit. He picked up another familiar scent, which he realized was that of the chocolates she had given him before. Opening a nearby drawer revealed an entire stash of foreign candies. Amaimon could easily steal it all, but for the first time in a long time he wanted to do the opposite.

He wanted Chio to give him these of her own free will, whether he wanted her to out of desperation to survive or something else was unclear to him.

Amaimon decided he didn't like calling her Chio, it wasn't her true name after all. Ichigo was her true name. Yet, she disliked that. They were at an impasse. He would call her Ichigo, better that as it kept a distance between them. It was still her name, but she wouldn't like it being used which made it the perfect choice. Footsteps sounded in the hall, and he took his leave.

Yes. His new toy was looking rather interesting.

* * *

 **Chio's PoV**

Chio sighed in annoyance as she pulled her dorm room door shut behind her. She couldn't believe any of it.

So that guy Amaimon that she had given some chocolate to the other day was actually a murderous, psychopathic, Demon King from Gehenna. He had tried to kill Rin, kidnapped Shiemi, hurt her new friends. She had freely given him candy, offered to treat his wounds after HE fell on HER. How could he even have considered following her and expecting candy from her? Well it didn't matter, Chio wouldn't be seeing him again. Evil demons didn't tend to stick around in highly exorcist-populated places.

He was evil, and yet, he was intriguing to Chio. If he truly hated Rin why was he wasting his time following her around and loitering in Mephisto's office? Surely Amaimon would have confronted him again if he wanted a fight that badly. He didn't seem so bad. Although she had no doubt that beneath that well held composure was a killer. Chio had seen it in his eyes.

It all made so much more sense when she looked back…his speed, his ability to follow her so deftly, the fact that his blood had been all purplish and shit.

Amaimon could've easily killed her if he'd felt like it. Yet he hadn't, he chose to play around as though it was all a game. Well she was going to be an exorcist so she couldn't afford to be shocked when demons played nice. It was all a game until somebody died.

"What even is my life" she said tiredly to no one in particular.

Rubbing her eyes, she crawled under the covers and let sleep take over her body. There'd be no nightmares tonight if she was lucky. Yukio had kindly mentioned their trip to Shiemi's exorcist shop over dinner, reminding her of the chance of a calming concoction that she might be able to get. Then again, she tended to have terrible luck... Chio reluctantly dozed off, trying to think pleasant thoughts that would foster pleasant dreams.

 **Running. That was all she could do, all she knew in that moment. Yet it was useless. No matter how fast she ran the flames, the heat, it gained on her. His laughter echoed down the long hallway over and over. He was coming, the beast, her parent's killer, her father. The flames caught up and slowly consumed her. They burnt through her night clothes and into her skin, down to bone and muscle. Chio tried to move and thrash, but she was frozen as the fires destroyed her body and mind. The beast watched as they did, his purple eyes a perfect match to her own. They were so empty, yet so full. Full of rage and greed and a merciless thirst for her suffering… He waved his great clawed arm to strike her and she felt the sharp nails tear through what remained of her intestines.**

She awoke in a cold sweat, the cool night air rushing in through a partially open window. Chio desperately tried to calm her breathing, getting up to sit by the open window so the air would chill her awake. It was an hour until she was meant to get up and ready for school but after that nightmare she wouldn't be able to spend it napping. Oh well, no point sleeping anymore now anyway. Chio considered doing some extra work, but paused thinking about how long it would take to get focused. Nah.

She could bake those cupcakes in an hour…

Quietly she jogged to the kitchen stopping only to peek under her bandages in the bathroom. Sure enough, the wound was completely healed over, new skin having grown while she'd slept. She would need to keep it on for at least a few days if she wanted to keep everyone fooled though. Maybe stick to long sleeves for a couple weeks.

Once she had all her ingredients, Chio started to beat the eggs and sugar quietly. Ukobach was watching with one eye open from a spice shelf. Hell it was even too early for him.

If she could have these ready by the time the boys were up, she could surprise them. They definitely deserved it after helping her out yesterday. Before long, after adding a few more ingredients, she had a creamy looking batter ready for the oven. Ukobach happily helped spoon the mix into some cute cases and they placed them inside.

"Ukobach, what kind of decoration should I go for? Chocolate frosting with strawberries, or vanilla with raspberries?" she asked. The little demon chef pushed the box of strawberries towards her eagerly, showing his choice.

"Good idea, nobody hates chocolate right?" Chio said. She was actually really enjoying herself, she hadn't cooked for a while after all.

Keeping up with the extra homework and Mephisto's rules was really exhausting so she hadn't had the time or the energy.

She whipped up a quick bowl of chocolate frosting and stowed it away in the fridge. It wouldn't be needed until the cupcakes had cooled anyway. It was a twenty minute wait for them to bake, plus another fifteen for them to cool.

"Watch them for me while I go get cleaned up?" she asked Ukobach with a smile. He nodded, sitting patiently on the counter as the heat from the oven filled the room.

Once she reached the bathroom, Chio quickly scrubbed down in the shower, the apple scented soap streaming around her feet. As she scrubbed away the sweat from her nightmare, her mind shifted from the scent of the soap to other smells such as those her friends possessed. It was weird, but who was gonna know? Shiemi smelled like flowers and fresh cut wood, it wasn't surprising considering her hobbies. Bon smelled like musk, sawdust, and something metallic. It seemed to make sense with his personality being the way it was. Amaimon smelled like rained-on grass and chocolate. A strange combination, but it was surprisingly addictive.

Wait, Amaimon? Addictive? What the hell was she thinking, this guy was certainly not her friend, he was a psycho demon and she thought he smelled nice. What the fuck. Mentally slapping herself, Chio shook off the weirdness and hurried out of the shower. The cupcakes would be coming out soon. Pulling her bandages back on along with the basics of her uniform, she hurried back to the kitchen. As she walked she braided her dark hair to the side, leaving her fringe free. She'd undo it later after it dried a bit.

The kitchen smelled like fresh baked cake, and Ukobach was proudly setting out the frosting which added to the pleasant smell. She pulled them out of the oven and almost screamed. They were perfect, well risen and golden.

"What do you think? Smells good?" she said excitedly to Ukobach. When he didn't respond she immediately worried they were actually horrid. However, she eventually realized the little demon was actually staring at her ears. Her exposed, pointed demonic ears.

She nearly screamed again, this time in frustration. Just how many people's familiars were going to figure her out? Kuro had just been smart, but this time it was entirely Chio's fault.

Getting on her knees, she begged.

"Please Ukobach, I'm not here to do any harm, you can't tell anyone my secret." she pleaded. The little demon looked dubious, obviously feeling torn between his friends.

"I'll let them know at some point, just not yet please. I'll lose everything, and…we'll never be able to cook together again because I'll get kicked out." she continued. That seemed to swing him completely, and eventually he smiled reassuringly, signalling that he agreed.

Chio huffed in relief; she couldn't keep on like this. The boys would be up soon, so she estimated she had about twenty more minutes until she would have to take her hair down. Jeez, if she was gonna leave her ears out and Ukobach knew, she might as well free her tail too. Chio let it uncoil from her waist, the fluffy indigo tip tickling her side slightly. It was such a relief, much like the relief that came from taking your shoes off after standing all day.

This was how she was meant to be, denying it only made her life hard. Yet accepting it seemed strangely impossible.

Using a piping bag she made quick work of the cupcakes once they were cool, and soon enough they all sat elegantly together in containers with their chocolate frosting and strawberry décor. She put two on little plates for Rin and Yukio, and quietly nibbled on one of her own alongside Ukobach. While she'd been showering he'd started up breakfast preparation, so the cupcake scent had been overridden by rich savory smells. Looking at the clock, she realized they were probably up now. Chio reluctantly tucked her tail back around her waist and untied her hair so it hid her ears.

Sure enough, Rin burst into the cafeteria followed by a slower paced Yukio. Both boys gave her a surprised look when they saw her perched at the table before them, all ready to go.

A double dose of "Morning Chio-san" echoed into the neglected food hall from the two Okumuras. Rin's hair was pointing in all directions, while Yukio looked as immaculate as ever.

"I woke up real early this morning so I decided to make some cupcakes for you to say thanks for everything. Ukobach helped out." she said, holding out the two small plates while the aforementioned demon chef served out breakfast for them.

Rin looked down at the dainty pastry and flushed with excitement, as did his brother, but in a far more held-together way.

"You made these? Thanks Chio." he beamed, shoving nearly half of it into his mouth.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to wait to eat this after breakfast. That way I can look forward to it." Yukio said politely, taking his cake to the table. Chio nodded in agreement before fetching her own breakfast from Ukobach, followed by the two boys.

She thought their responses were rather telling of their personalities, Rin being incredibly expressive and Yukio being incredibly composed as per usual. Looking between them, Rin had a streak of chocolate frosting on his chin, and it was hilarious.

"Nii-san, you have frosting on your face." Yukio said, pointing to his own chin as a reference. Rin's eyes widened in mild embarrassment, and he used a napkin to wipe it off before starting to guzzle down his food.

"Say Chio, how many of these did you make exactly?" Rin asked through a mouthful of eggs and rice. How graceful.

"There's plenty more in the kitchen. Why?" she replied.

"You should bring them into school; the guys have to try these!" Rin explained enthusiastically.

"I agree, after all Nii-san will just eat them in a day if you don't." Yukio added having started on his own cupcake.

Chio felt slightly hesitant, what if the rest of the class didn't like them? On reflection she realized they deserved her thanks too, having been kind to her.

"Okay I will. I'll have to leave them here until class starts though, or else the heat will ruin them." Chio murmured. Her dorm mates smiled having convinced her.

"Come and find me at lunch, I can take you back here using my key." Yukio said kindly. Chio gave him an appreciative smile, were these two ever going to stop being nice to her?

Probably, when they realized what she truly was. Lying was a cardinal sin in friendship. Chio knew she was only counting down the days until she would lose it all. Eventually someone would come after her and she'd be forced to reveal herself.

"Oh, how's your shoulder by the way?" Rin asked innocently. Chio tensed, she hadn't exactly been behaving like a person with an injury today. Damage control was required immediately.

"It's feeling better, I took some painkillers when I woke up so it hasn't been too painful." she said, plastering on a false grin and touching her shoulder for added effect.

"Do be careful with what pain medication you take, you wouldn't want to overwork yourself and not realize it." Yukio said, eyeing the empty cupcake case. Chio felt her pulse increase, did he know?

Feeling speechless, she simply nodded and went back to her food. She wasn't being careful enough.

* * *

The day had been grueling so far, to say the least. Her teachers seemed to all be in the same bad mood and the students were only striving to worsen it. No matter what she had done, she hadn't been able to stop worrying about preserving her secret. It was lunchtime now, and she and Yukio had just gotten back from the dorms with the cupcakes and were heading off to eat with the rest of the cram school students. Shiemi had made special effort to be around at lunch recently despite not attending the academy as a normal pupil. Chio suspected she liked eating with friend more than eating alone.

Chio thought the lunch habits of her classmates were fairly revealing of their personalities. Rin almost always headed over to Shiemi first, but stayed within arm's length of Yukio all the while. The blonde girl seemed to understand this, and remained near Yukio to keep everyone happy. Bon tended to stick with Konekomaru and Shima, while Shima badgered Izumo and sometimes her too. Chio liked to stay with everyone for a equal share of time.

"Everyone, Chio-san made cupcakes." Yukio said, using his teacher voice to gain their attention.

"Oh my, they look so good Chio-san!" Shiemi said, taking one and admiring it. Rin grabbed one, leaving his already consumed bento on the bench.

"They are. Me and Yukio had some this morning." he exclaimed.

"Hey Okumura, stop hogging all the cupcakes then, you've already had your share." Bon growled in response, taking his own. Chio was remaining the silent observer, still finding their group dynamic hilarious despite seeing it daily.

The rest of her friends took one, spare Izumo even though her friend Paku who wasn't even part of the class had. Chio considered approaching her to offer one, but the girl seemed to be in a hostile mood. Although, one cake did disappear along with Izumo and her friend while Chio had her back turned. Out of everyone in the class, Chio had yet to befriend Izumo. Maybe the girl just didn't like her and there was nothing she could do about it. There had to be a way to build a bridge though…

A tap on the shoulder distracted her momentarily, and upon turning to see who it was, she almost dropped the container.

"S-Shura-san?" she stammered, shocked that the woman she hadn't seen in so long was suddenly before her. Shocked and incredibly worried.

"Ehh? You know Shura?" Rin said in surprise. Shura nodded, a grin on her face.

"I was a friend of the Mayami family before they passed. Old man Fujimoto sometimes took me along when he stopped in on visits with them. I usually ended up babysitting your tiny ass when he did. That old coot loves making me babysit kiddies like you" Shura explained offhandedly. Chio almost thought she caught the scent of alcohol on her breath for a second.

"Really? What a small world. Did you know about this Yuki-chan?" Shiemi asked happily, nibbling on her cake still. Yukio shook his head slowly.

"I never knew my father was friends with your family, I wonder why he kept it a secret..." he pondered out loud.

Chio was completely lost, she had no idea any of this had been the case.

"Probably because he didn't want any demons killing people he cared for." Shura said bluntly, eyeing Chio knowingly.

It was a double edged statement. Rin and Yukio would assume it was meant for them, as would the others, but Chio knew it was directed solely at her. Because her whole family had died at the hands of a relentless demon that wanted to destroy her. Father Fujimoto had most likely kept his affiliations with her family a secret because he knew Asmodeus would kill anyone connected to her if he felt the need.

Chio had never even known the man visiting alongside Shura was Shiro Fujimoto. He had always arrived late at night and worn a hood. At that moment she realized Rin and Yukio were probably curious as to why she hadn't mentioned knowing supposedly their father.

"Rin, Yukio, I never knew it was your father visiting with Shura, I never saw his face before. I would've said so if I knew." she said quickly. This wasn't good, nobody knew yet that her parents had been exorcists, having the paladin visiting them was suspicious. Having known Shura was suspicious. Damn.

"Why were you even going to her family's house back then?" Bon said suddenly, reminding Chio that the audience was actually bigger than she wanted.

"They had a recurring demon problem, nothing that couldn't be handled easily at the time. The old man and I always went along because he was friendly with your folks and they trusted him to handle seeing as he was already so…experienced." Shura explained, pulling a can of beer from her chest. The can hissed as it was cracked open.

Chio held back the lump in her throat. She could read between the lines, Father Fujimoto had been checking in with her parents and maybe Ume's too about the half-demon children they were raising. He had two dormant half-demon children of his own so who better to ask about any " _recurring demon problems_ " of that kind. With her parents being exorcists it was no surprise they had been on good terms with the paladin at that time either. But nobody knew that yet. Shura obviously knew what she was, the question was, would she tell everyone?

"Why are staring at me like that brat? You almost look five again you know that? Here gimme one of those, I need something to take the edge off this booze." Shura slurred, grabbing a cupcake clumsily. Chio felt the throat lump dissipate, and smiled at her long time friend. What had she been thinking, Shura would never expose her so coldly, maybe she'd watch her like a hawk but that would be all.

"It's good to see you after all these years Shura-san." Chio said happily.

* * *

 **Amaimon's PoV.**

He'd spent all day watching. Observing. Human friendships and relationships were so petty and exaggerated. The first couple had been so sickening to watch that he had considered killing them on the spot. They were snuggling on a park bench, holding hands and kissing furiously like they would soon be parted forever. The next two humans he watched, two schoolgirls, had spent all day shopping and giggling together about entirely frivolous matters. Amaimon found their conversations boring beyond belief. The third had been a mother and son; he also struggled to understand this. Having been raised by his father's servants after birth, he hadn't truly known real "motherly love" as it was so called.

The woman had picked up her child and spun it around in the air, causing it to giggle and scream joyfully. So it was an enjoyable experience to do this to someone you cared for, strange. Amaimon was even more intrigued when a young man picked up his girlfriend and spun her around, receiving a large smile and a coy laugh. Was this spinning business some sort of tradition in Assiah?

Amaimon shrugged it off, becoming bored with his observations. He had forgotten why he had started in the first place, oh right; he was waiting for Ichigo to finish school so he could get some of that candy she had hidden in her drawer. He had formulated an elaborate plan that he couldn't find fault in.

"It's the perfect plan Behemoth, I shall summon one of my Kin to attack her, and when she is about to be receive the finishing blow I will arrive and save her. She will be indebted to me, and be forced to relinquish her supply of candies. Of course she will initially refuse but when she sees I control the beast that almost killed her, she'll have no choice." he theorised. Behemoth grunted in approval.

Of course he had finished putting such a plan together hours ago, leaving him nothing to do until she actually arrived. So in a bid to collect more information he might use against her during the long life she had in front of her, he had started watching how humans behaved. The clock tower in the distance gave off several loud clangs as yet another hour passed. He supposed he could go and watch her attending her exorcism classes. His Aniue had given him permission to tread the school grounds so long as he didn't destroy or kill.

Grabbing Behemoth, he launched himself into the distance, shooting over buildings and streets until the academy was in view. Amaimon could smell her, and he hated it. Her scent was not displeasing, he just hated that he noticed. This ridiculous one-sided bond was causing him so much trouble and it had only existed for a day so far. Using his key he took himself to Mephisto's office, and then from there he wandered around until he could smell her as though she were next to him.

Amaimon found himself in front of a large tunnel, her scent peppered down it. Ichigo was directly down here.

"Behemoth, leave me" he muttered. The hobgoblin scuttled off to most likely eat a squirrel or something, leaving him alone.

The tunnel lead him into a large room, in the center of which was a pit. Amaimon made sure to stay within the shadows as a group of students including younger brother stood not so far away above the gaping hole. Within the pit, Ichigo stood alongside the short bald boy whose arm he had once broken. In front of them some large cages sat suspended beneath a platform, each one held a Leaper. One of his favorites. A man with sideburns pulled a lever, and one of the cages opened releasing the huge frog.

What were they doing? Those things were murderous when they were given a chance, so why give it one at all?

Ichigo burst into a run, followed by the smaller boy. The frog pursued them without fail. She was a fast runner, and apparently unafraid of the large thing that very much wanted to eat her. The bald boy was neither of these. His running was labored and his face was permanently contorted in fear. The leaper was on his heels and would most definitely consume him if the handler above didn't see fit to stop it. Yes. Amaimon had made a good choice in coming here.

"Konekomaru, behind you!" Ichigo shouted, having noticed the distance between them. It was pointless; the boy wouldn't be able to save himself now. He was about to lean in slightly so to better view the bloodshed, when she turned and ran directly towards the boy and the Leaper.

What was she doing? Amaimon felt his fingers twitch in…what was it? Worry? Concern? Fear? He didn't know. Of course he had to have accidentally blood-bonded himself to the one human woman who would so carelessly put her life in danger for a human much weaker than herself. What a waste. Ichigo had reached for something at her waist, a gun it seemed, and upon reaching the ever shrinking gap between the bald boy and the demon frog, grabbed the boy and near carried him to a safer distance.

She had saved him. Was this pathetic boy of some importance to her? Were they involved? Amaimon narrowed his eyes, how many lecherous men was he going to nearly die for.

Despite ferrying the boy further away from the pursuing frog, it still chased relentlessly. Its beady eyes and beadier mind wanted blood and nobody could deny it that. They weren't moving, the huge frog was coming straight for them and suddenly the short boy had squeezed his eyes shut while he huffed in exhaustion. So he couldn't run anymore.

Why if he was unable to run, had she not abandoned him to save herself? Was such behavior not common among humans? Ichigo held her gun up, staring at the Leaper down the barrel of her weapon and remarkably, it stopped in it's tracks. If there was anything Amaimon knew it was his own Kin. Leapers did not stop for just anyone, only those with the fiercest will could hold them back. So his Ichigo had such a will?

The teacher pulled on the lever again, and the Leaper was dragged back to confinement. The other members of the class hurriedly made their way down the sides of the pit, pure amazement on their faces. The bald boy had opened his eyes and was looking up at Ichigo in admiration and shock. Amaimon could hear their excited praises from where he stood. Despite this, she remained humble, not soaking in the adoration of her classmates. It was almost as though she wasn't at all surprised at her victory over the Leaper.

"Interesting." Amaimon whispered, before swiftly turning and leaving.

As he made his way back down the dark tunnel, he felt something growing within him. Something he couldn't quite name at the time, but it was familiar. It was almost like respect.

* * *

 **Chio's PoV**

Chio walked along with Shiemi, Yukio, and Rin, quietly in awe of the secluded blob of land that was Shiemi's home and shop. It was only accessible by the large bridge, which Chio figured made for a very isolated but peaceful life.

"Would you like to see my garden Chio-san?" Shiemi asked sweetly, Nii-chan squeaking in agreement on her head.

"Of course Shiemi-san, I love plants." Chio said happily. She really did, especially the ones you could eat.

"Can I come too Shiemi? Yukio never lets me in the shop..." Rin grumbled, giving his twin an aggravated look. Yukio ignored it.

"Of course, but perhaps you could carry some pots for me? Mother has ordered some new ones and I'm afraid I can't quite get them in on my own." Shiemi said bashfully.

Of course Rin was going to accept, it was Shiemi asking after all. They were very close, sometimes Chio wondered if perhaps there was a connection there that surpassed friendship, but other times she just saw them as absolute best friends who shared a great deal of care for each other. Chio could swear she'd caught the little aspiring tamer looking at Yukio with glossy eyes on more than one occasion anyway, so unless she was simply daydreaming her interests lied elsewhere... Hopefully Rin saw Shiemi as a friend rather than anything else, if he didn't the future looked rocky.

"You got it, where are they?" he asked while squinting at the house in the distance.

"They should be by the front of the store…" Shiemi exclaimed, not even finishing her sentence before Rin dashed ahead in pursuit of the pottery.

"Oh, I better go help him find them, they aren't exactly in plain sight." the small girl said worriedly, jogging off after him. God Rin was such an idiot sometimes.

Chio was about to chase after them and scold him, but she remembered she didn't know her way around the place so it would be pointless to try.

"Shall I show you where the garden is? You can wait for them there." Yukio suggested, Chio nodded gratefully.

Yukio lead her up some stone stairs lined with vegetation and flowers, to a black cast iron gate. Through it Chio could see a vast variety of flowers and shrubs. All of which looked beautifully cared for and arranged into cute planters, plots, and pots. Little irrigation streams and paving stones were placed elegantly around the garden, and a mass of trees encircled the whole thing. In the back Chio could see a little house, the sides lined with bloom covered trellis.

"It's beautiful." she said quietly, reaching up to touch the gate and look in a little better.

She hadn't expected the shock. It was a rather painful shock too, shooting up her arm and down her side. Chio yelped in pain, quickly pulling her hand back. Was it an anti-demon gate? The thing looked normal at first, normally she was more careful than this. Suddenly Chio remembered something rather alarming.

She wasn't alone.

Turning to look at the younger Okumura, she tried to control her facial expressions. His face was strangely blank, the normal polite smile gone from his lips replaced instead with absolutely nothing. His teal eyes were almost calculatingly dull. Chio looked at him, he looked back.

She could feel her weapons against her as though they were the only thing touching her skin and she had no doubt he felt quite similar. The mood was interrupted by Shiemi and Rin who came running up the steps carrying the clay pots. Well, Rin carried about thirty while Shiemi held one or two.

"Shiemi-san, is your anti-demon gate working correctly?" Yukio asked immediately, poking at the tension.

It was over. Done with. In a second, Shiemi would say her gate was fine and Yukio would probably pistol whip her if she didn't shoot him first. Of course she wouldn't do that to him, so she was going to get it in the head. Rin and Shiemi would be shocked, but Yukio would quickly explain himself and the shock would vanish and be replaced with anger. They'd be happy he'd shot the lying, manipulative bitch that had betrayed their trust.

"Actually ever since Rin broke it it's been on the fritz, so I can't be sure. There have been so many more Green Men and other Earth spirits in my garden lately so probably not." Shiemi said, having no idea of the importance her answer held.

"Oh no wonder, I just touched it and it gave me a little shock." Chio said innocently. Perhaps she could still recover this, if Yukio could be convinced of her innocence, so could the others. Shiemi gasped, and Rin's eyebrows knit together in concern.

"Is it possible for it to shock a human if it's not working correctly Yukio?" Rin asked, eyeing her with a look that Chio knew meant he was afraid she was a liar.

"I wouldn't know, it could be entirely possible if the gate is no longer functioning normally, or if it was damaged enough." Yukio said, a firm look of indecision on his face.

In some lucky turn, his face turned brighter again and he looked at Chio hesitantly.

"Are you alright Chio-san?" Yukio asked, smiling at her. Pain shot through her, he believed her. She was lying to them all yet he somehow trusted her enough to believe this was some accident caused by a faulty anti-demon gate. Chio didn't deserve their trust or their friendship.

"I'm fine, it was nothing really. Would you like me to take some of those Rin?" she said, trying to conceal her nerves. Rin's wide smile returned, and he laughed loudly.

"Nah I got this. These are pretty heavy after all, no point standing around and handing them out." he exclaimed, following Shiemi through the gate with his arms completely full. Chio reluctantly followed, leaving Yukio to quietly leave and buy his supplies.

She wondered how much he trusted her now.

Rin set the pots down and flitted over to Shiemi who was stroking a rose bud lovingly. Green Men began to creep out of the brush and surround them, squeaking and chirping at the newcomers. Shiemi moved over to a small plot of soil and began to unearth a seedling with her small hands.

"Would you like to plant something Chio-san, there's quite a surplus of pots here so you could try and do one by yourself?" Shiemi offered, holding a tiny seedling in her cupped hands.

"What is that?" Rin asked, almost inhaling the tiny baby plant as he got close. Shiemi inched it away, obviously fearing for it as well.

"It's mint. You can eat this so I thought you'd find it useful at the dorm when you cook. I have several others growing here so this one needs a new home." Shiemi said. Chio liked that the girl valued her plants so much, treating them with such importance.

"Okay, you show me how to do it and I'll follow." Chio said with determination. She would get this right, and make up for the countless times she had ruined her mother's potted plants, as well as impressing Shiemi who she very much valued as a friend.

Chio patiently watched as the soon-to-be Tamer grabbed one of the smaller clay pots and filled it halfway up with old soil from the plot, then nestled the seedling inside. She then poured a mix of new soil and fertilizer around the little plant, sheltering it with her spare hand and dusting off grains of dirt when finished. Using her palms, Shiemi pressed and packed the soil mixture around the plant and sprinkled over some clean cool water from her watering can to finish the job.

"Here, you try." Shiemi said, handing her another pot.

Chio chewed on her bottom lip, taking a trowel's worth of soil from the ground and letting it fall into the pot. Holding out her own hands, she took a seedling from Shiemi and placed it in the pot as lovingly as she could.

"Good job, now take some fertilizer and fresh soil from the bag..." Shiemi encouraged, guiding her to the sack and pail containing the two substances. Chio carefully added the two things to her plant pot, trying not to drown the little green sprigs in earth.

"Now pat it down but you have to be careful not to be too rough or the roots will suffer." explained Shiemi. Rin sat beside them, eyes wide as he observed.

Carefully, Chio pressed the soil down into the pot, stopping when the bounciness waned. Rin placed the watering can by her pot, and she quickly rained some cool water down on the mint. Shiemi clapped her hands together in delight, and the Green Men danced and pulled on her skirt and shoes in celebratory fashions.

"Is that okay?" Chio asked, frightened that she'd somehow already slaughtered the thing.

"Yes, you did well. Now make sure you give it lots of sun and cool water each day. If the soil looks dry on top it's thirsty. Also, turn it regularly so that every side can grow big and strong!" Shiemi rambled, excitement radiating off her like a sun.

"I will, soon it will be big and strong I promise." Chio said. The thing was, she really meant it. Just bringing it all together had fostered an attachment between her and the mint plant, she wanted to have it for a long time.

Shiemi then helped Rin plant some bulbs in one of her plots, and shortly after Yukio emerged behind them with a bag of supplies. However Chio didn't want to leave just yet and neither did Rin. Unfortunately, Yukio wouldn't budge on his brother leaving right there and then due to assigning some important homework earlier on.

Luckily for her, Yukio knew she actually did her work, so he left with a kind reminder that dinner would be at eight. After another hour or so of pleasant chatter and potting alongside Shiemi and her many garden friends, she decided to make her way home after promising the blonde that she'd be back again soon to help her pick the tomatoes.

The walk across the bridge felt slightly stranger than normal, perhaps because she walked it alone. It was a bit of a bastard to carry the potted plant and the cupcake container along with her bag but she managed. Almost all her cupcakes had been eaten; spare two that nobody could manage. Chio supposed she could just give them to Rin later; he'd eat nearly anything anyway. Finally she got off the bridge and hurriedly cut through the busy streets leading to the dorms. She had left Shiemi's around seven, so she still had plenty of time to make it for dinner. Potting plants was surprisingly tiring regardless of the fun.

Chio eventually reached the spot of last evening's stabbing and scowled. Amaimon was…such an idiot. What kind of evil Demon King spends his time stalking girls for candy and sitting on street lamps? Supposedly he wanted to kill Rin. Supposedly he only ever wanted to cause trouble and fight. At least according to her dorm mates that's what he wanted. Amaimon didn't seem at all bothered when Chio had interacted with him, he just seemed…bored.

"What are you thinking about?" a voice asked from above, and Chio nearly dropped her possessions for the second time that day. She knew that voice. Speak of the devil. Or rather, one of his many sons.

"What do you want Amaimon?" she spat, looking up at him as he hung upside down from a streetlamp a few yards away from the one where he'd fallen before.

"I had this really elaborate thing I needed to do today..." he said offhandedly, his green hair blowing in the evening breeze. Chio sighed.

"And?" she said pointedly, half wondering why she even wanted to hear the rest.

"Then I noticed you had cupcakes. Give them to me." he demanded. Chio frowned at him.

What the hell was he even talking about? First he causes her to get stabbed because of his own stupidity, and then he just runs off. Next he demands her food?

"No." she said firmly, continuing to walk back home. She heard a thump as he undoubtedly dropped down from his perch, and a whooshing as he appeared next to her. His expression was considerably darker, yet confused at the same time.

"But I want them, and I did as you said." he said simply, stopping in front of her.

"Look, I have somewhere to be, I can't deal with you now. What do you even mean by you did what I said?" She asked impatiently.

"You said I should just ask next time. So I did." he exclaimed, as though it were self-explanatory. After a moment's confusion on her part, Chio realized that in actual fact she had said that.

It was the other day when she had given him some of her caramel cups after helping Mephisto with his crazy tree related business. Had he actually listened, even if he'd poorly understood? Seeing a strangely twisted opportunity, she took it.

"I did say that didn't I? Okay, but you're supposed to ask politely. Say " _please_ " next time." she corrected. Setting the mint plant down by her feet, she popped open the container and extended it to him. The King of Earth quickly took one from the box, inspecting it for a minute before shoving the entire thing into his mouth. Perhaps he and Rin had more in common than they realized.

"These are good." He said, eyeing her strangely. Chio poorly fought back a blush as she received yet more flattery from a boy. God she was pathetic. Silently she cursed the nuns for their strict rules about interaction with the opposite sex. Then she immediately took it back, the nuns weren't that bad.

"Have the other one if you want." she said, nodding towards it. Amaimon didn't need to be told twice, quickly eating the last cupcake.

"Do you often make such confectioneries?" he asked, tilting his head cutely. Cutely? Chio needed to leave, leave now and seclude herself from people.

"Yes, why?" she asked, gathering up her things to get going.

Chio was trying really hard to avoid eye contact; she was about an inch away from turning into a bumbling mess. Romance was never her forte, and it wasn't going to become that way through embarrassment if she could help it.

"No reason." Amaimon muttered as though he were deep in thought.

Before she could even formulate a response, he had leapt off onto the street lamp again, and then briskly disappeared onto some building. Chio gave a pained sigh, she was only sixteen in a few months and she was already too old for this shit.

* * *

 **And...Done. There's the newest chapter. I hope you liked it, I have this rather specific plot in my mind for this so let me know if it's something I ought to leave behind and rework or stick to...**

 **Please review because opinions help me prevent myself from making stupid mistakes as well as spurring me on to keep writing this. Love to everyone who reads, reviews, follows, and whatever else you can do!**

 **Sincerely, LostWaffle.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey everyone. Thanks for putting up with the wait, but I promise I won't leave you too long for the next update. I'll let it get started...**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing of Blue Exorcist.**

* * *

 **Chapter 5:** Beauty and The Beast

* * *

 **Amaimon's PoV**

Things had changed. Amaimon had followed her home like before, waiting until the prime moment to summon his rock beast and put his brilliant plan in motion, when he had seen what she was carrying. It had been a container of cupcakes and of course he couldn't just let them be destroyed as a result of his plot. However, revealing himself again to claim them would mean he'd need to push his plan back to another day.

Cupcakes were worth it. If they were terrible, he'd just rob her blind of some of her sweets as she slept and pull off his brilliant plan the following day. As a form of penance for his wasted time and disappointment.

He'd initially been confused when she had denied him. Had she not asked him to do this whenever he wanted something from her during their first meeting? Supposedly he had been impolite and not said " _please"_ when he should have. Easily fixable, Amaimon was still surprised she was so freely giving him instructions on how to obtain things from her. Did she have a death wish? Beneath her soft and decidedly bouncy exterior must lay a true combat genius… or just an idiot if she was so calmly disclosing strategy to him. He truly couldn't understand it, but by tomorrow he would. His perfect plan would be implemented, and she would be at his mercy. Not only would he obtain her candy, but all the secrets she kept locked in that pretty head of hers.

He had needed to change his plans slightly upon actually eating those cupcakes.

They had been the best cupcakes he had ever tasted. Amaimon much preferred well-executed homemade sweets to those from stores and factories, and if he could obtain a provider of such sweet treats for the foreseeable future, he'd be set for life. He could wait patiently for her to wrinkle and die, all the while enjoying the products of her kitchen.

The revisions to his brilliant plan were as follows. Amaimon would attack her through the use of his Kin, save her in the final moments, and then demand that she repay her debt by baking for him whenever he desired it.

It would provide a believable excuse as to why he was always around to save her, and benefit him far more than just obtaining one candy stash. Amaimon was certain this would work, regardless of how fast she could run or how many bullets she could fire from those pesky guns. After all, she was only a human, and humans were weak.

* * *

 **Chio's PoV**

Luckily Chio managed to get back to the dorms before eight, seeing Rin and Yukio chatting in the kitchen as various things steamed, fried, and boiled. It was tempura and rice tonight apparently.

"Hey Chio, what took you so long? We were worried you wouldn't make it for Tempura." Rin said, smiling over the stove.

Should she tell them about Amaimon? They'd only react badly, even though he'd done nothing to hurt her they believed him to be evil in all respects so they'd undoubtedly find some aspect of their encounter to be laced with ill intent. Chio decided it best they not know. After all he probably wouldn't be showing up again right?

"Guess I just walked slower carrying this stuff." she said, setting the plant and container down on a table.

"Yeah I don't blame you, those pots can get pretty heavy, especially when they got dirt in em." Rin chuckled. Chio held back a frown.

She was pretty strong, she had never fought Rin or seen him come to real blows with anyone, but Chio was certain that with their demon powers dormant their strength was more or less even. Having to hide it was an annoyance and a hindrance to her everyday life. She honestly hated having to pretend to be weaker than she was.

"Yeah, well at least I won't have to carry such a load again anytime soon" she mumbled, leaning wearily against the counter. Despite her tiredness, Chio still didn't miss the questioning teal eyes locked on her from behind a pair of glasses.

* * *

Chio woke up early again that following morning, but rather than bake again she decided to have a hot bath and steam away her worries. The list of concerns seemed to just be growing as the days passed.

First there was her indecision on whether or not to aim for Knight or Dragoon for a Meister. That was on the top of the list because she literally needed to find out before it became too late.

Secondly were her strange encounters with Amaimon. What exactly was he playing at? Every time they'd crossed paths he'd seemed to be operating on an agenda of his own making. That worried her, seeing as the Demon King didn't seem particularly intelligent when it came to executing long running plots requiring patience and calm.

Thirdly was her deal with Mephisto. The situation was quickly souring around her, the eventual use of her powers or reveal of her parentage looming overhead like a dark storm cloud. If she broke any of his ridiculous rules she could kiss her life as an exorcist goodbye. Although, that also meant she'd be kissing problems one and two goodbye.

Lastly was Yukio. He clearly suspected her of hiding something. The way he'd been looking at her since the incident at Shiemi's garden gate was all it took for her to realize she needed to be incredibly careful for the next eternity. Or at least until her third concern became reality.

Sinking beneath the hot water was her temporary escape, but no matter what she did all these problems would be happily waiting for her after she emerged. Oh well, if she was going to go out, she'd go in style. At least that's what she was hoping for.

Chio sifted through the various bottles of conditioner and shampoo, trying to go for something new. She very quickly skipped over the Mephy shampoo in horror, settling for a vanilla scented bottle. The boys were completely fine with sharing their soaps, it was simply easier to share than argue over what was available. This one was probably Yukio's. Rin tended to buy weird smelling ones like the orange avocado bottle she'd discretely tossed last week. That had been terrible.

She took time to scrub her thick hair with the shampoo, and let it soak out underwater. It was Saturday today, but she really wanted to go into town and explore. She had a new volume of her favorite manga to read and she felt like doing it in the sunshine. Slicking her hands in conditioner of the same scent she massaged it in, perhaps she could spend a little time in the library and choose a vanilla confectionary recipe. The smell of this hair product was making her crave it. Sighing contentedly she let the warm water tingle against her skin, contrasting pleasantly against the cool conditioner seeping into her hair.

Life was pretty good in retrospect, despite her concerns weighing heavily on her. She had a bunch of new friends, a new place to live, and she was studying at an excellent school to become an accomplished exorcist. The only thing that could possibly make it better would be if they could all just know about her powers and not care. Just accept her. Accept her like she couldn't accept herself.

Her peacefully closed eyes snapped open. Who was she kidding, not even a miracle could protect her from the distrust they'd have in her when they realized the truth. Chio sat there in the water with that running rampant through her mind until she felt it grow cold. Reluctantly she heaved herself out and wrapped up in a soft towel. Getting dried off and eating a snack sounded nice. Yes, maybe some soup. She'd ask Ukobach if he'd make her some. The little demon was always hinting that he wanted requests. Chio was just too polite and stubborn to actually give and ask for something up till now. She needed some comfort.

She almost went to braid her hair again, but remembered the boys were around. Instead she did two separate, looser braids that covered her ears well. They came out rather mussed and fat from being maneuvered to disguise her demonic traits, but they'd do until she could let her hair free as normal. Chio hadn't been able to wear her hair up with ease for years, the nuns had always encouraged her to hide her ears and tail so not to scare the other girls, and now she was here at the academy with Mephisto breathing down her neck.

It was Saturday after all, which meant she had the luxury of regular clothes. Today it was a pair of grey shorts with a black off-the-shoulder flowy shirt. Paired with her black knee socks she felt far more comfortable than when she had to cart her ass around in that putrid uniform. Spotting the little demonic cook laying out cutlery for the ever approaching breakfast, she decided to mention her soup craving.

"Ukobach, what're you cooking?" she asked, sniffing the air. It was definitely fish of some kind, maybe bream or haddock. Ukobach hopped off and returned with a spoon of a dark rich smelling liquid. Miso soup.

Swallowing the hot contents eagerly, she grinned.

"It's fantastic. I had been craving soup this morning. You must have read my mind." she said fondly stroking his small head. Ukobach grinned happily at her praises and rushed off to tend to his masterpiece. Chio heard a large yawn sound from behind her and turned to see who was producing it.

"Rin? What in the hell are you doing up so early?" Chio asked curiously. He was never up early on a weekend, hell he barely made it out of bed on school days.

"Don't look so shocked, I am capable of getting up early you know." he muttered, bags evident under his normally wide eyes. He looked exhausted; perhaps he had been coerced up rather than choosing to.

As if to confirm her suspicion, Yukio walked briskly into the cafeteria looking bright-eyed and aware. A newspaper and book were tucked under his arm.

"Morning Yukio, did you force Rin awake this morning or has a miracle taken place?" she asked, giving Rin a sneaky serving of side-eye for his earlier grumpiness.

"Nii-san tends to oversleep on Saturdays leaving him less time than he'd like for leisure and even less for homework and other such things. I took the liberty of waking him early this morning to ensure such problems wouldn't arise this weekend." Yukio explained with a gentle smile.

Chio was accosted with mental images of Yukio rather aggressively waking his brother from his usual deep slumber. It was hilarious to think their soft spoken yet stoic teacher could be capable of such a thing.

"Sounds fair, I was thinking of heading into town today anyway. You could always come along if you feel a thirst for leisure and the like. If you have homework you should probably get that out of the way first though" Chio suggested.

"Aww man, that sounds like so much more fun than anything Yukio suggested. Can't we go Yukio; we can come back in time to do the work…" begged Rin, his tail sagging in a depressive manner.

"Sorry Chio, I can't allow Rin to get caught up in anything before he's done his homework. I myself have work to do too. Maybe we could meet you later?" he said.

"Sure, message me when you think you might be able to make it. We can meet in the park." Chio exclaimed. She rarely used her beat up phone, but it was times like now she was glad she still kept it.

Yukio nodded much to Rin's chagrin, however the fiery boy regained a little excitement when Ukobach came storming over with hot bowls of soup stacked on trays. Chio felt her heart lighten at the sight of the puffy steam coming off the food; she never wanted to leave here if she could help it.

"Chio, I was wondering about your Exwire qualification actually. You did pass with flying colors according to your record." Yukio said.

Chio smiled and nodded, but underneath it all she was panicking. Mephisto had falsified her Exwire qualification so she could enter the school now rather than next year. She knew she was more than capable of taking on the responsibilities of an Exwire, she'd been doing it for years now after all, but Chio knew Yukio and The Order would abhor such a thing and make sure she got held back or worse, expelled.

That couldn't happen, Chio didn't need to learn stuff she already knew. Mephisto had for some unknown reason, been just as against it as she was. So he'd faked her pass and let her in to join the others. Again, the cracker clearly had an agenda, but at this point Chio couldn't give a rat's ass as to what it had to do with her.

"What did you want to know?" Chio asked.

"I was curious as to how confident you are with demons and field work. There's an upcoming mission that Shura and I plan to take the class on and it would be a shame to have to leave you behind due to you not having participated in the Peg Lantern test we told you about. Although I suppose you not being there had its benefits. Anyway, I'd like to bring you along but only if you can assure me that you'll be able to handle it and work well with your fellow Exwires." Yukio explained, blowing on his coffee.

Chio desperately wanted to go, not just to get out there in the field, but also to prove herself trustworthy to everyone while she still could. But could she really protect them without her staff? She had trained for years to fire like an expert but she'd only ever protected herself. No, self-doubt was the enemy of those who fought the demons, it corrupted their focus. Chio felt confident she could carry her weight on a mission.

"I can definitely do it" Chio said firmly, giving her friends a look of determination. Rin grinned, seeming to be just as pumped as she was now feeling for this upcoming mission.

"Good, please do your best. Your eligibility for future missions will be evaluated on this upcoming mission, seeing as you feel ready." Yukio said, before returning to his food.

Chio nearly gaped, had he just tricked her into taking a test? There was no way out now, she'd just have to get it over with and get a pass. The sooner she could start missions, the sooner she'd be getting the needed experience for passing her exams and qualifying as an exorcist. Meister undecided as of yet… But still, Yukio had duped her into this when explaining it honestly would've been satisfactory.

Perhaps he'd wanted to put her under pressure so she'd slip up and reveal hidden information to him if any existed, which it did. But Yukio didn't know that, hence his sly behavior.

"You're lucky we're friends or I'd have totally beaten your ass for tricking me like that..." Chio said playfully as she threw a light punch into his shoulder.

"I'm sure you'll do fine Chio-san, try to rely on your strengths and the strengths of your team members, taking risks may seem favorable when things get rough but it rarely pays off. Isn't that right Nii-san?" Yukio said, giving his brother a smarmy look over his glasses.

Rin glared, his bottom lip jutting out in protest. He didn't offer any comebacks though, only huffed and shoved a chunk of vegetable into his mouth. Clearly he was still exhausted. Chio quickly finished off her soup and sides, the boys following shortly after. Once she had cleared away the dishes she grabbed her bag and headed out to town. Of course she had made sure to tuck her staff away underneath her shirt as usual, and kept her guns strapped tightly around her belt. To avoid catching the eyes of the families running through town, she tied her hoodie around her waist to conceal them from view.

The street was fairly empty for a Saturday, especially a sunny Saturday. It was almost concerning. Chio figured everyone must have beaten her to it and gotten out into the sun much earlier. Passing by the many old buildings surrounding the dorms, Chio shook off a feeling of dread.

Was it…oddly quiet around here?

She picked up the pace, passing by Amaimon's street lamp. _Wait, Amaimon's street lamp?_ Since when had she referred to it as that of all things? Chio hoped to all that was good that she wouldn't encounter the strange demon today. She needed relaxation, and he was not going to offer her any such thing.

A sudden and unnatural scream tore through the warm air like a blunt knife through fabric, and Chio took off into a run after it. Her first thought was one of worry. What if someone was in danger, injured, dying? Her second thought was fear. That scream hadn't sounded very human; in fact it almost sounded as though it had been trying to sound human but failed through lack of ability. It was too late to back out now. Dashing down alleyways and over fallen crates, she found herself among a crossroads of alleys between buildings.

"Hello? Where are you? Are you okay? Answer me!" Chio shouted, checking every direction for signs of life. She received no response.

"Damn" she cursed aloud, pulling her gun out. There was something shady going on here.

A strange, breathy clicking noise came from above, and ever so slowly Chio craned her neck to look. Above her a lizard-like demon held fast to the side of one of the buildings, it's yellow and black eyes peering down at her hungrily. It's scales weren't like a normal lizard, instead they appeared to be made of a hard grey rock, almost like slate or seashell in appearance. However Chio was immediately alerted to how genuine and fleshy it's insides were as it opened it's mouth wide to reveal rows of razor sharp teeth and a bright red tongue.

The demon dove, it's claws extended to slash at her and Chio immediately jumped out of the way. It pursued her quickly, it's rocky tail smashing into the side of a red brick building and cracking it. Aiming her gun she fired off a few rounds into the head of the lizard, causing it to recoil for a few seconds then continue, leaping at her like an angry dog.

Chio ducked and rolled, narrowly missing a claw as it skated past her cheek. This thing was out for blood, and it was going to get it at this rate if she couldn't fight it off.

 **Amaimon's PoV**

Amaimon had been overjoyed when he'd spotted Ichigo strolling out of her shared residence toward the local shopping area. Today was the day he intended to put his plan in motion, there were no sweet treats to stop him this time. He summoned his preferred rock beast for the battleground she would be lured to, and took a seat on a high piece of pipe to watch the battle, or rather, the annihilation.

Ichigo had responded as Amaimon knew she would to the scream, exorcists were so predictable after all. His beast lay in wait above as she called out for a victim that didn't exist, making a noise of pleasure as she reached for her weapon. There was nothing a demon loved more than a fight with an eager opponent, and as his rock beast was purely carnal in nature it assumed any held object to be a weapon if held correctly. Amaimon had relished in the look on her small face when she'd laid eyes upon what was above her.

Pure horror. Then… interest. To his surprise rather than scream for help or try to shoot, her purple eyes raked over his rock beast in a lovely mixture of awe and terror. This was going to be good, perhaps even more enjoyable that his fight with Rin. He pulled a strawberry sucker he'd stolen from his pocket excitedly, shoving it into his mouth.

Before long he'd have everything he wanted.

The rock beast began the chase with a bloodthirsty passion. Attempting to first spear Ichigo with it's sharp claws, then flying towards her with it's mouth agape. Amaimon knew the demon had every intention to eat her, but he'd be stepping in before such a thing happened. If it even dared defy his orders, which Amaimon knew it wouldn't. He'd specifically said that eating was out of the question, the rock beast was only to maim and injure nothing more.

Ichigo was doing a good enough job avoiding his rock beast, she had shot at it only once so far and it hadn't had a worthwhile effect. Whatever she did next would be equally inefficient seeing as the stone demon had no weakness for her bog standard exorcist bullets.

Amaimon had to admit he was slightly intrigued when Ichigo deftly ran from the rock beast while still firing her weapon. She wasn't even half-looking in the direction she was firing yet not a single round had missed.

When Ichigo leapt onto a dumpster and swung up onto a nearby fire escape with unnatural ease, he was almost impressed. But not quite.

From her position on the fire escape she shot the rock beast in each eye, momentarily robbing it of all sight. A smart move, but it only bought her a minute or so. Shate could heal very well thanks to Amaimon. Behemoth grunted next to him, seeming to be feeding off the excitement his master exuded.

"Calm yourself Behemoth, the best is yet to come" Amaimon said eagerly. There was nowhere she could go but up or down now, and neither would preserve her frail little life. Only he held that power now.

She seemed to realize this, and a look of anxiety overtook her features. He held in a laugh as she looked around frantically. Perhaps she was hoping for a way out, or a rescuer. Well she would get neither gifted to her until she had been beaten and bled within an inch of her life.

Amaimon bit his lip as the inevitable end crept closer and closer. The beast's eyes were more than halfway restored, she had seconds.

Ichigo suddenly reached behind her shirt and pulled out what appeared to be a disassembled staff. Was she thinking this pathetic piece of metal would save her? The guns had been a better bet. Feeling his grin spread across his face widely, he stared with all his might as the rock beast leapt around having healed, and spotted it's prey. Ichigo gave off a pained and frustrated sound, snapping the two halves of the measly weapon into one, and then twisting it.

Amaimon instantly felt his sucker slip from his lips and fall, shattering on the concrete below.

Ichigo's skin changed and gave off a deep purple mist as the blades erupted from the staff's ends. Her purple irises all but swallowed the black pupil, growing large and focused like that of a predator. Matching purple streaks streamed elegantly across the sides of her face from the edge of both eyes, like warrior paint. Even her ears grew, pointing out from her rich, dark hair.

Amaimon watched in a strange sort of slow motion as she sprung from the fire escape and onto his rock beast, impaling it through the back with her blade. Ichigo jumped away as the hard tail flew around to knock her off. She immediately flipped off the side of a building , landing crouched in front of the now furious creature he had summoned. It launched at her in a rage, and she twirled her staff, ducking to push it up through the throat of her opponent and out through the back of it's skull.

Cracks spread throughout the rock lizard's body and it exploded into chunks, flecks of it's stone corpse flying up to land in Amaimon's hair and probably eyes had he not shielded them with his arm. A thick dust filled the air, and he lost sight of Ichigo.

"It seems Aniue wasn't completely honest with me, perhaps we should pay him a visit." Amaimon said quietly, snatching Behemoth and taking off through the dust clouds towards his brother's office.

* * *

As soon as Amaimon reached his destination, he threw the door open and stormed in, dragging Behemoth behind him.

"What can I do for you _dear brother_?" Mephisto said, not looking up from his manga, but looking amused all the same.

"Ichigo is a half-demon. Why did you not tell me this Aniue?" Amaimon demanded, on the outside he supposed he might appear unphased by it, but rage burned endlessly within him at his brother, at her.

Now his wait for her to die of old age would be far longer and more dangerous than he had anticipated. Half-demon children were enemies of both humans and demons alike, combine that with the friendship she had with his newest brothers and her existence would be a constant challenge. Which meant his life was constantly on the verge of ending.

"It was of no importance to your decision now was it? Regardless of her blood being demonic you still had to make a choice between wedding her and waiting for her death. Yes the wait is longer than you had expected, but aside from that there is no change." Mephisto sweetly pointed out, his words practically dripping in a sugary glaze of entertainment.

"She will attract many demons and humans who seek to spill her blood, how should I be expected to deal with that?" he said tersely, his grip tightening on Behemoth's leash.

"The same way you had intended to when you believed her to be human. Why does it bother you so that she is part-demon?" Mephisto asked curiously, setting his manga down in favor of his tea.

Truthfully Amaimon couldn't pinpoint his exact reasons for being so enraged over her true form. Sure the wait would be longer, but he did love a challenge. When she had so skillfully shot at his rock beast he had been intrigued, when she had blinded it he had very nearly been impressed. However what was it he felt now? Upon seeing her in that way, so composed while she destroyed the thing he had so carefully selected to harm her, he had felt something that he didn't like at all. But what was it? The layer of anger was directed at Aniue for hiding this facet of his Ichigo, but what was that other thing?

"Brother could it be that you found her impressive? Could it be that perhaps you thought her so powerful and wonderfully destructive that you now admire her ever so slightly?" Mephisto posed, a single knowing eye glinting at Amaimon from beneath the brim of his top hat.

Amaimon frowned. Admire Ichigo? Was Mephisto suggesting he found Ichigo to be appealing? No, she was an unwanted burden, a plague upon him that he couldn't shake off. He only wanted her for her baked goods, and that was the only use she could ever have.

 _Or was it?_

Amaimon replayed the previous series of events in his mind. Aniue was right; Ichigo had been so wonderfully destructive, obliterating the rock beast with such focused and strong blows. Even he had felt the wondrous power radiating off her from his observation point far above. Maybe, just maybe he could make this terrible situation work in his favor.

As a human, she had been mostly useless to him due to her mortal weakness. All he had stood to gain then was a short lives' worth of homemade treats and permanent guard duty. Now that he knew what she truly was… If he could enlist her, she could serve him, do as he wanted.

Amaimon might have been fairly bored when it came to learning about demonic ritual and tradition, but he knew the Demon Lords of Gehenna better than anyone having battled them all on many glorious occasions. How had he missed it before?

Those eyes, that purple aura… He knew who Ichigo's father was. The Demon Lord of Lust and Lechery.

Amaimon knew of Asmodeus' abilities well, if Ichigo had inherited even half of them she would still be immensely powerful. Having control of said abilities would elevate him greatly in both this world and his own.

She had his eyes, which was obvious. On the day they met she had supposedly helped with Maruto-chan who had attempted to consume one of the special game controllers Aniue loved so much. To have gotten that tree to return the thing without killing it meant she must have used the eyes. The eyes alone were a thing not to be trifled with… No demon in Gehenna possessed a hypnotic stare like Asmodeus did. It could bring armies to a halt, cause mothers to slay their helpless children, seduce the most unwilling of partners. It was a monstrous power to be held by a fifteen year old girl.

"Well brother? Was I correct?" Mephisto asked knowingly as he twirled a silver spoon through his teacup smugly.

"Yes." Amaimon said simply.

He did find Ichigo appealing; he wanted to possess her, her power would echo behind him and propel him to heights he hadn't yet reached. That was the only logical explanation for this strange thing he felt. Nothing else made any sense. She could also provide baked goods and sugary sweets, which was an added bonus.

He quickly fled out the window, eager to track down his Ichigo before she did anything else interesting when he couldn't secretly witness it. Before he could leap away, a gloved fist grabbed at his tattered coat.

"What is it Aniue?" Amaimon asked. Mephisto smirked at him.

"If it is her power you believe you seek, do remember that should she be found out as a half-demon the negative reactions of her friends or The Vatican would be very unpleasant to deal with. The punishment for being the child of a demon is most often execution after all, and should Ichigo-san lose her friends here she will find no reason to stay. No matter how hard you try to make her. Above all else, she is still my student. If any harm comes to her because of your idiocy and greed, I will kill you." Mephisto said coldly.

Amaimon looked at his brother darkly, Mephisto had seen through him yet again, knowing the game he was playing before the pieces had even moved past Go.

"I understand Aniue."

Then he disappeared.

* * *

 **Chio's PoV**

She drove the blade of her staff straight up into it's throat, feeling it burst out through the thick skull moments later. The great lizard screeched as deep cracks spread over it's massive form, the once impenetrable looking scales splitting and falling to pieces. Then suddenly it burst into rubble and dust, a great force throwing itself outwards as the dust spread through the air.

Chio coughed as some of the dust accidentally traveled down her windpipe. She quickly back-twisted and took apart her staff causing her physical demon attributes to start melting away, leaving her in her normal form once again. Chio scoured the area. Phew, nobody had seen her. She hadn't wanted to use her staff, seeing as someone might see and expose her, but she'd had no choice. That thing would've slaughtered her if she'd tried to shoot it down. It was a demon bladed staff for a reason after all. The corpse dust settled, as morbid as that sounded, and Chio slowly made her way out of the back alleys.

The effects of her morning bath and soup had been completely destroyed. Gripping the tattered strap of her bag she headed onward to town, no point going back now.

Plus she'd told Rin and Yukio to meet her and they'd find it odd if she came back.

As she walked she realized she'd screwed up her leg during that fight, as well as putting a nasty kink in her neck and scraping up most of her exposed skin. Chio's clothes were filthy, alley muck and lizard dust coating them. She was a fucking mess.

Oh well, she'd probably be able to find a quiet place to sit in the park to read her manga where nobody would bother her. If the boys asked she'd tell them she fell down some stairs over a pesky hobgoblin into some mud. They'd never buy the truth unless she revealed herself, after all, a normal human girl wouldn't stand a chance against a demon like that. As she got into more populated areas, people really started to stare at her in her messy glory.

Chio almost wanted to scream that she was alive so fuck her appearance, but nobody would get it. Most of these people probably didn't even see demons. The sun was luckily still bright and high in the sky, and for such a nice weekend the park was empty. Spotting a lonely bench partially shaded by a small tree, Chio seized an opportunity to sit after her ordeal, closing her eyes as she did so.

That demon had been a real bastard, strong too. How had a demon of that strength been allowed to roam without being detected? Exorcists should've been swarming the place well before Chio even left the dorms…

Unless it had only materialized in the few minutes she had spent in the area. But why? Maybe her father had sent it, he often sent Succubi or Incubus or some other underling creature to torment her, though she easily ended them. This demon didn't fit his M.O.

Sometimes Chio wondered why he had even created her. If it was intentional which it normally was with Demon-Human pregnancies, then she was just here to ease Asmodeus' boredom and provide an interesting show. If it had somehow been accidental then he was just trying to get the most out of a bad situation and kill her off. Not that she'd let him have either.

Her scrapes and pulled muscles tingled as they healed, the pain lessening as the minutes ticked on by. Soon she'd be back to her normal state, at least in health. She was still messy. Reaching into her bag she pulled out a cookie she had grabbed from the cupboard on the way out. The food was welcomed by her surprisingly hungry body due to the fight. That lizard could go to hell, and it most probably had.

"Can I have some of that please." a voice asked playfully. This time Chio didn't even need to look to know who had spoken.

"Amaimon, I just fought this giant lizard and I'm exhausted. _So no_." Chio huffed, slumping against the bench. She truly didn't have the energy to deal with him right now. Amaimon just cocked his head to the side at her reply.

"So it wore you out physically to fight?" he asked. Something sounding like happiness was present in his tone. Chio narrowed her eyes at him.

"No, it wore me out in here." She exclaimed, pointing to her head. "I just wanted to chill out today and now this shit happens..."

"I see. I saw you by the way. You never mentioned you were half-demon. Asmodeus is your father, no?" he said, eyeing her victoriously. Chio had her gun to his face in an instant.

"You saw me, and you just guessed who my father was? How about you keep your mouth shut about what you saw, and I don't blow your brains out. By the way, he's not my father. He'd just a guy who gave me some genes." she spat, her tone grim.

How had this happened, she had been so careful. Nobody had been around she was sure. Currently Chio was petrified, she didn't really know Amaimon. What would stop him from telling everyone for fun? Absolutely nothing.

"If you're worrying that I'll expose your secret, don't. I will keep quiet...On one condition." Amaimon said slowly.

Great another condition, as if Mephisto's weren't enough as it was. She had no choice but to accept it, Amaimon had her by the balls and they both knew it.

"What is it?" she asked, lowering her weapon warily. Chio was expecting the worst. He'd probably want her steal him a puppy or something weird like that.

"I want you to make me sweet things, whenever I want. I'll let you know ahead of time what I feel like." he exclaimed. Chio just stared at him, disbelief was surely written across her forehead.

"You're serious" she said, leaning in to emphasis her confusion further. He wanted her to bake and cook for him? That was all? Chio knew he liked candy and all that but…

"Completely serious. If you refuse I could always pay Okumura Rin and Okumura Yukio a quick visit…oh, and that young blonde girl too." Amaimon murmured thoughtfully.

"No, don't please… I accept your condition. What would you like first?" Chio said hurriedly.

Maybe he was nicer than everyone gave him credit for, after seeing her biggest secret he could've asked for anything. Instead he asked for candy. Perhaps this was just his way of being selfish though. Only time would tell.

Amaimon seemed to deeply consider this for a while before turning to her with an expression of epiphany on his normally blank face.

"I want brownies, but with things inside. Like nuts or marshmallows" he said, nodding to himself as if to agree that he had made a good suggestion. Chio just sweat-dropped.

"Consider it done. I can have them ready for tomorrow evening if you want. Does a tray of twelve sound alright?" Chio said, kind of surprised by how easygoing he was about this.

"Tomorrow morning would be far more appropriate, and no, I want twenty four." he said, not looking the least bit sorry. Scratch that, not so easygoing. Chio swallowed the angry groan she had in her throat, she would have to agree. Besides, brownies weren't so bad.

"That's fine. Should I meet you here again?" Chio asked, wondering if he was going to ask her to get them flown to him on a phoenix or something ridiculous like that.

"Yes" he replied almost instantly. Chio gave him an awkward smile. This was so weird, what did this make her? A private baker for a demon?

She was about to ask why he wanted that of all things in exchange for keeping her secret, when her phone buzzed, indicating she'd received a text message. Flipping it open she quickly skimmed the message from Yukio and scowled. They were coming, but not for another hour.

"Something the matter?" Amaimon asked, glancing at her phone.

"Nothing important, I just have an hour I need to kill." Chio grumbled, scanning the grassy park, she spotted a quaint tree that she could sit under to read.

She heaved her bag over her shoulder and carried her things toward the tree before sitting beneath it and pulling out her manga. Suddenly her light vanished, looking up she realized it was because Amaimon had followed her. He now stood directly in front of her blocking out the sun.

"Do you want something?" she asked, curious as to why he was still here.

"What are you doing?" he asked, looking at her strangely. Chio frowned.

"What do you mean? I'm reading" she said simply, looking back at her page. Amaimon wasn't done yet however, and bent down to begin pulling at the top corner of the book.

"Don't ignore me" he said impatiently, continuing to shake her book preventing Chio from reading any of the words. Eventually she snatched it away completely.

"I'm not ignoring you. You're just asking stupid questions" she snapped. Amaimon almost seemed to have scowled at her.

"It wasn't a stupid question at all, I simply wanted to know why you'd moved from the perfectly suitable bench to the ground under this tree" he exclaimed. Chio's eyes widened with understanding.

"Oh, I like to sit under trees when I read, its calming. Also I feel closer to nature this way" she explained awkwardly. It was true, she always preferred to sit out of direct view on some grass to read or relax.

Amaimon said nothing, choosing instead to sit down next to her under the tree.

"Now what are you doing?" Chio griped, raising a questioning eyebrow at him. He merely pulled her manga to sit between them.

"I want to read it too." he said, locking his eyes on the page. Chio still didn't have the heart or the energy to refuse him, so she just continued on from where she left off, Amaimon reading by her side and his large hobgoblin sleeping at their feet.

Every so often she'd reach up to turn the page and his eyes would move from the characters in the manga to her face. If anything particularly dramatic happened, he'd immediately look to her searching for some reaction which she sometimes gave. Chio didn't once dare look back at him, afraid she'd go red and humiliate herself. Hell, did he even understand the meaning of a blush? Amaimon seemed socially inept in many areas, hopefully it wouldn't become too much of an issue. They must've sat reading there for at least an hour, and no words were exchanged.

The buzz of Chio's phone was what interrupted them; it was Yukio again, saying they were headed to the park and bringing Shiemi along with them. Amaimon evidently read the text over her shoulder, because he immediately stood and tugged on Behemoth's leash.

"I'll be leaving now. I expect those brownies here at nine." He said. With his already superior height, Chio felt so tiny as she sat while he stood.

"Yeah I'll be here..." she sighed, tucking the manga away. She didn't much feel like finishing it today anyway. Amaimon nodded and began to walk off, stopping after only talking a few steps.

"By the way Ichigo, you fought well against the rock beast." he muttered, before carrying on and leaping off somewhere. Chio barely had time to thank him for the compliment.

It didn't even register until the boys and Shiemi showed that he'd called her Ichigo instead of Chio.

* * *

 **Amaimon's PoV**

After scouring her normal route to and from her home to the academy, he eventually found her splayed awkwardly on a park bench with her eyes faintly shut. She looked tired, and rightly so. Perhaps she wasn't so strong after all.

She pulled a rather nice looking cookie from her bag suddenly, prompting Amaimon to situate himself beside her and request some. He had just been cost one rock beast after all. Unpredictably, she had denied him. Why hadn't she given in? He had followed all her instructions regarding asking for things. Apparently she was mentally worn down from her recent dealings, rather than physically worn down.

So she was irritated, or annoyed, or just pissed off. Any of those was good for him.

The idea that he had been able to phase her, provide a worthy challenge in any way was highly pleasurable to the King of Earth.

Her expression when he had revealed his knowledge of her demonic nature had been worth the failure of his original plan. A part of him was almost grateful his Aniue had been vague with him. Of course she had attempted to intimidate him into silence with her weapon, a gesture he himself appreciated as it was often used when he grew bored of outright carnage and felt the desire to partake in something a little more underhanded.

If anything, his current plan was the most underhanded of all. Within minutes he had gotten her to agree to provide him with candies and baked goods whenever he commanded. As for her dirty secrets, those would require him to wait. Wait patiently. As he had in his many periods of boredom before, Amaimon would observe and document, only this time he would have a subject to observe consistently.

As she was a danger to his continued existence it would be crucial that he know her weaknesses and keep a watchful eye. By coercing her into providing him with a regular supply of sweet things he could see her often enough to figure these weaknesses out. In time, he would know her better than she knew herself, so well that convincing her to serve him would be easy. As long as she posed a threat to him she was an enemy, and for the first time Amaimon had encountered an enemy he couldn't just simply slay and be done with.

Once she stood by his side not only would he have her abilities as his own personal armory, but he would have the comfort of knowing he could control his largest weakness.

What was that saying they had here in Assiah? _Ah yes._

Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

In his first session of observation, he decided that Ichigo was a rather unorthodox human being. Amaimon took the time to watch her carefully as she read through the manga, he had always found it interesting himself to read about fictional human happenings. Every time the main character had stumbled upon something funny, her lips had quirked up in the hint of a smile or laugh. When things got intense, her eyes would widen ever so slightly in anticipation. When it was time to turn the page, she'd move with eager fingers, keen to carry on reading and taking in the story.

Amaimon found it fascinating. Her range of emotions was so wide and so easily triggered, even though she was obviously trying to conceal them from him. Ichigo hadn't looked at him once since he'd sat next to her and wanted to share her manga. The urge to press forward to provoke a reaction, any reaction, was almost undeniable. Yet he restrained himself, his Aniue was always telling him to maintain his composure when in Assiah, not to mention that he'd only be jeopardizing the success of his own plans if he wasn't careful.

It was peaceful though, beneath the tree silently studying her. Behemoth was surprisingly uncaring towards her, choosing to sleep at their feet. Normally the hobgoblin would become aggressive towards anyone who got too close to Amaimon, yet he seemed calm. Perhaps it was the lack of murderous intent Amaimon had towards Ichigo that made him this way. Behemoth did his bidding after all, so if there was no bidding to be done surely Behemoth would simply cease to do anything at all.

When her phone had vibrated and Amaimon had seen that his youngest brothers and the object of his most recent kidnapping were on their way, he had almost felt slightly bitter. They were interrupting his observations, his fun. But there was nothing that could be done, everything would be swiftly ruined if they spotted him near her. He left, but not before voicing his thoughts on her performance against his rock beast.

Why he did that, he didn't know.

* * *

 **Hey guys 3 Sorry it's been so long, I got a new job and it's been pretty heavy on my schedule. But I stand by my vow, this story will carry on! I hope things are flowing well here, I am really aiming for a slow build-up, but I don't want it to be _too_ slow if you get me. **

**I'm really feeling this chapter as a start to "something more" between these two, but if you disagree please let me know so I can step up my game! Basically this was just meant to be the beginning of their friendship which will eventually lead on to more... But if it isn't working tell me.**

 **Please Review for Waffle-scented hugs!**

 **Sincerely, LostWaffle xoxo**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey Er'body! Sorry for the wait (again) but I promise it's worth it!**

 **I had this great idea, or maybe not so great, it's up to you really. Basically, every new chapter will come with a song suggestion that fits either Chio or Amaimon's perspectives on each other/a scenario/the chapter events etc.**

 **So for this chapter, I'll suggest "King" By Years and Years. I always think that this is a great song for how Amaimon comes to see Chio, he's all grim and selectively sociopath-like, and she's all optimistic and strangely caring. He shouldn't like her, yet he finds her intriguing... Anyway, give it a listen if you haven't already, it's a favorite of mine atm.**

 **Now go enjoy the chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothin' :/**

* * *

 **Chapter 6** \- The Enjoyment of The King

* * *

 **Chio's PoV**

The thick brown ooze was coating the marshmallows slowly, having recently engulfed the almonds before that. It was far harder to make brownies when the mixture was tripled to make thirty six. Why Amaimon needed twenty four brownies Chio would never know or understand. Surely he'd get sick off of them if he ate them all? In reality she was in no place to refuse or complain, having been the one to draw her own staff and expose herself.

If this was the punishment for deciding to live, so be it. Living while being blackmailed was better than dying without having accomplished anything at all.

Of course she'd needed to make an extra tray of twelve brownies for Rin and Yukio, it would be weird to make twenty four and not give them a single one. Luckily Yukio didn't pay much attention to any food purchases so long as dinner was on the table, and Rin didn't know much about sweet products, so neither had suspected anything odd when she'd carried in such large amounts of ingredients and started baking.

Chio had done exactly as Amaimon had asked; she was baking brownies with things inside. Nuts, chocolate chips, marshmallows. It was messy and annoying to say the least. There probably wouldn't even be enough for her to have one. Ukobach was looking on with curiosity in his eyes, the little demon knew his way around a kitchen and had undoubtedly figured out that the yield of her bowl was far greater than she had let on.

Of course, so long as she let him help and gave him some he'd pay it no extra attention. Being a cat, Kuro had left the building at the mention of chocolate, his life far more precious to him than that. Chio was lucky people were often so dense, it allowed her to carry on with her life easily.

It was currently eight in the morning, and Chio had an hour to be completely ready to present her blackmailer with his offering. She was more or less ready to go, it was just a matter of baking the goods and getting to the park. Getting back from town with the boys and Shiemi had occurred later than she originally anticipated, and the full impact of her battle seemed to hit her as soon as she saw her bed. Faintly she had remembered her vow of brownies to Amaimon, but in her daze she had thought something along the lines of the following…

 _Don't people like warm brownies better than cold ones?_

This had resulted in her baking them now rather than yesterday. Why she cared about Amaimon's experience of eating them she didn't know, he was blackmailing her after all.

The trays slid happily into the oven, and Chio almost threw herself at the eggs Ukobach had made her. He was such a kind demon, having seen her predicament with the brownies he took up breakfast duty for her. It was Sunday, so the boys would be up a little later, hopefully giving Chio time to make it back before they noticed she was missing. If not, she had yet another lie prepared.

This time she would say they'd run out of eggs so she'd hopped off to buy some. When they discovered the eggs in the fridge that they already had, she'd feign ignorance and say she hadn't noticed. Believable yet sad and pathetic like her life. At least it was sunny again today, the park would be filled with people and she could catch some rays. Her clothes from the previous day had been ruined and required extra harsh washing so to avoid losing another outfit to the demons she had gone with a simple grey tank top and black capris. Better them than anything she actually liked. Plus she still looked badass anyway.

Black was just so versatile, how could anyone choose to avoid it? Chio's mother had preferred bright colors, always praising Ume for her strange combinations of this and that. Fashion was beyond Chio, clothes tore and got filthy so what was the real point unless you had somewhere to be. She felt very much the same about make-up, only wearing the tiniest streaks of shadows and liner if she could be bothered to put it on. It was so unnoticeable next to the fashionista types at the academy, which Chio kinda preferred.

With her parentage, she was built to attract. Keeping her powers sealed in the staff helped, but if she tried enough she could have them all anyway. Not that she wanted to. Hell, if there was anything Chio would kill herself over, it would be every human and demon around her deciding she was something special or whatever. Eww. Maybe Yukio felt somewhat similar when all the girls tried to bashfully force their homemade lunches down his throat.

At least he could run away…

The timer on the oven dinged, and she quickly rushed over to check her brownies. They were still a little too gooey, probably from the sharing of the oven. Chio glanced at the clock nervously, she only had a short while left before she'd have to meet Amaimon. Would he flip out and spill the beans if she was late? Not worth finding out, hell no.

Chio had to have stared through the glass at the cooking trays of chocolate batter with laser vision, because they miraculously cooked in the next ten minutes or so, leaving her enough time to make it to the park if she ran.

With Ukobach's help she cut the hot things free and neatly placed them in boxes. Chio sprinted out the door. They were pretty hot still, so the containers stung her flesh. In fact they were so hot that Chio had chucked the lids in her bag instead of covering them. The steam would've fogged up the insides. People turned to look as she ran, smelling the fresh baked goodness and moving out of her way. Brownies were a crowd parter, good to know. Finally she reached the tree from the previous day in the park, children were frolicking like rabbits and cicada buzzed all around her.

"You're a minute and twenty-two seconds late" a voice said from directly behind her. Hell he must have been in her ear to sound that close.

"Don't do that you idiot" she screamed, staring at Amaimon with her best death-glare. He showed no signs of being bothered; only sniffing the air. He obviously smelled the brownies.

"I get it, here" Chio said as she handed him the containers, her hard breathing stinging her lungs. She had run pretty far in the sun after all. She didn't even have any water.

Sluggishly she made her way to the pleasant shade of her tree, not caring if Amaimon followed or not. Of course he did, but she didn't care. Yeah, not one bit.

"These are excellent; I had not considered asking you to put chocolate chips in. It was a good move." He said thoughtfully, chewing on a brownie. Yet more flattery caused her to scowl, and she tried to hide her angry flush by voicing her exhaustion.

"Do you have any water? I ran here and it's so hot" she mumbled, slightly embarrassed that she'd even asked. Amaimon just looked at her for a second. Then, by some miracle he pulled a bottle from his jacket and offered it to her. Chio had to admit she was stunned, even though she'd asked she hadn't expected Amaimon to actually give her any if he had some.

"Thanks. By the way that's another thing you forgot. Say thanks when someone gives you something." Chio said as she made to drink from the bottle. As soon as the liquid touched her tongue, she frowned.

"Is this…fizzy lemonade?" she asked, eyes twitching. She had asked for water, yet somehow that translated to lemonade of you were the King of Earth.

"Yes, water is so bland. You looked thirsty so I assumed you wouldn't mind. I apologize, it seems I did forget to thank you. However, seeing as the reason for you baking these for me is solely to preserve your secret, I don't see it as a necessary component of the exchange." Amaimon said, moving on to his third brownie.

Chio was gob smacked. She had run here, baked him those damn brownies, and put up with his weirdness and he couldn't even be polite? Before she could begin her verbal assault, he spoke again.

"On the other hand, you did bake these fresh before coming here did you not? Nowhere in our agreement was the freshness of the goods specified, so I will thank you for that as it has improved them exponentially. Thank you." he said cheerfully, before shoving an entire brownie into his mouth.

"You're welcome" Chio whispered, surprised yet again by him. Perhaps he wasn't as dim and unobservant as she had thought. After all, he had seen her use her powers so he had to have been watching people and things all day. Or at least, watching her. But why?

"Why have you been following me around?" she asked, taking a sip of the lemonade coolly. Amaimon stopped eating, blinking at her.

"I haven't. You are just always around when I'm doing things. Also, I wanted your candies." He said, scooting to face her.

"But you couldn't have just been around in an alleyway for no reason…" Chio said, studying him for signs of lying.

"I was not there without reason, a rock beast was wandering the city. As it is my Kin, I could not allow it to just eat people and destroy whatever it wanted" Amaimon reasoned. There was definitely some aspect of this he was keeping from her, if the rock lizard was his Kin, why had he not stepped in?

"Why keep away then? Why not come and help?" she asked tepidly. Chio honestly didn't want his help, she was perfectly capable on her own and she had proved that. But it was suspicious that he hadn't even felt the need to make himself known.

"You didn't need the help" Amaimon replied simply, locking his eyes with hers. Chio suddenly felt something elevate within her regarding the odd green haired boy. Giving him a smile, she slowly nodded in agreement.

At least she wouldn't have to beat any sense into him like she had Shima.

* * *

 **Amaimon's PoV**

Ichigo was by far more capable and intelligent than he had originally thought. Not only had she seen through him and his lies about witnessing her fight against the rock beast by pure chance, but she had also made the excellent decision to add extra chocolate to the brownies. This lengthened lifespan of hers might have far more perks than he had considered possible.

When Amaimon had realized they were warm instead of cold some strange string had been plucked deep within him somewhere. It wasn't somewhere he would venture that was for certain, yet he felt it all the same. She had baked them fresh, when she had ample time to do it the night before and sleep in this morning.

Had she been trying to appease him? Surely that was the answer, because nobody made extra effort for their blackmailer.

Nonetheless, they were far superior to any other brownies he had tried. Even his brief travels overseas hadn't yielded anything better. When she had asked for water, he had felt the urge to mention that as King of Earth, she had no right to ask for such things. He asked, she gave, not the other way around. Yet, said urge had been at war with something else. That something had made him reach for his lemonade and hand it to her after examining her flushed face and heavy breathing.

It must have been that he was concerned she would die of thirst, thus killing him in the process. Why else would her potential dehydration bother him?

Now they sat beneath the tree again, the warm air contrasting with the shade it offered. Ichigo's body had calmed itself having received liquids, and Amaimon was a third the way through her brownies. He watched her silently; her large eyes were closed in a sleepy fashion. Clearly she was resting, yet not completely as a smile sat permanently on her lips.

Happiness and enjoyment had always puzzled Amaimon. It came to humans through such convoluted and senseless things. That which made one human happy, could destroy another. Some humans found the most ridiculous and worthless things to provide the most happiness, while others required near impossible things to be happy. Perhaps Ichigo was one of the former, as even with her eyes shut she smiled.

"Why are you smiling?" he found himself asking. Her eyes slowly opened, as purple and lively as always.

"Just random things. The sun is warm, and it's relaxing to be here beneath tree. The children are laughing over there too, which is nice." she mumbled, seemingly surprised by the question.

"Do you enjoy these things?" he asked. Human enjoyment was strange, what was enjoyable about a laughing child or a warm sun? Things like this were common and obtainable by all. What fun was there in something everyone else had and didn't need to work for?

"Yes I suppose I do. Don't you?" she asked curiously.

"I don't understand these things" he muttered, biting into another brownie in frustration. Ichigo frowned at him and sat up straighter.

"Why?" she asked, still frowning.

"They are so plentiful to you, they require no great effort to obtain, and anyone can have them. How is this enjoyable at all?" he said. Amaimon allowed his own puzzlement to show on his face, feeling generally annoyed with the tedium of his own poor comprehension.

"Come here" Ichigo commanded, patting the earth next to her at the base of the tree. Reluctantly he took the spot, leaning his back against the stiff bark.

"Now, put down the brownies" she said, pointing to the ground next to them. Amaimon felt dubious about this, yet also curious.

Nobody that wanted to live attempted to separate him from his sweets, yet Ichigo was still breathing after having done so multiple times. Apparently she still would live on, as he put the container down by his side. What was she planning? Why was he even humoring her when he could be eating the brownies?

"Now, close your eyes and relax. Just focus on the way the sun feels on your skin, and the way the breeze sounds when it blows through the trees…And stop thinking about the brownies or his won't work." She said quietly.

Amaimon did as she instructed, allowing the warmth of the sun and the sounds of the breeze to be his only concerns. It was surprisingly pleasant, the sounds the nature around him amplified and twisted together into a melody of sorts. He let out a breath, the weight of it vanishing from him.

"How do you feel?" Ichigo asked, her sweet voice blending well with the melody of nature.

"It is enjoyable, yet not." he muttered, still confused. As pleasant as it was to sit here, the thought of how easily obtainable this was to all humans still irked him. What meaning did this feeling have if it could be had by all?

"Why?" Ichigo pressed. If Amaimon could've seen her face, he knew it would be scrunched back into another frown. He almost laughed.

"As I said earlier, anyone could obtain this so why does it have any worth to me?" he exclaimed, finally opening his eyes to confirm his prior suspicions on her expression.

"You're pretty dense for a King..." Ichigo scoffed, closing her eyes again and leaning back against the tree.

Amaimon nearly lost it. He, King of Earth, was dense? Had she no common sense or will to live? He could slaughter her, tear her to shreds, summon eighty rock beasts to consume her. Well, he couldn't really because of the blood bond, but she didn't know that.

"How so?" he asked, eyes boring into her peaceful face. He would see how she explained herself.

"When you kill someone, is it always the same every time? What about when someone else kills someone. Is that also the same as when you killed someone?" she asked, amusement clear in her voice.

Amaimon froze. No, it was not the same. Each time he killed someone it was different, the feel of their bones beneath his feet, their blood soaking into his pores, their screams. When others, be they demon or human, killed it was not the same as his killing. His was far better. More thought out and unique, only he reveled in death the way he did. No one else could ever experience it the way he had.

Suddenly he was doused in understanding, much like his countless killings and the countless killing of others, each experience in the sun beneath a shady tree was different. It didn't matter whether it was the same sun, or the same tree. It would be felt and thought of differently depending on who was there.

Blood bled differently onto different hands, sun warmed differently on different skin. Memory varied depending on the person.

"I understand now" he said, looking around the park in wonder. This enjoyment did have value, because this version would only ever belong to him. It couldn't be forcefully shared, or mutually achieved in an identical fashion.

It could only be mutually appreciated by those who understood or made it their business to be by his side as he felt it. He could choose to share it to some degree, if he wanted to with someone.

Ichigo was by his side. Had she shared her enjoyment with him to give him understanding?

"Thank you." he said, earning him a look of confusion form the small girl.

"Why are you thanking me?" she asked without opening her eyes.

"To help me understand you allowed me to join in your own enjoyment of these things. The enjoyment was only unique to you until you did so, now it is shared between us." he explained. This prompted Ichigo to open her eyes and look at him.

"I like to share my enjoyment with people I care about. All humans do. I know I'm not completely human, but still. I guess…do you want to be friends? I could help you understand anything else you don't get. Better than you getting all angry and binge eating everything I cook cause you don't get something." Ichigo said, looking pointedly at the savaged brownies.

Amaimon felt conflicted, she cared for many people it seemed, so how often did she allow people to share in her enjoyment? Then again, she had offered him yet another invaluable thing and he couldn't bring himself to decline. And she claimed to care for him, hadn't he required that as part of his plan? Human friendship was something he did not understand, so surely accepting her offer would bring enlightenment.

"Yes, let's be friends then. How do you confirm a friendship?" he asked, looking at her.

Then she laughed at him. Amaimon hated to be laughed at. But for some reason, he decided he liked her laughter and the idea of friendship far more than he hated to be laughed at. He didn't really understand why people laughed at things anyway if not to demean their opponent. He was not fighting Ichigo at the moment, so surely he needed to further investigate this too.

"Most people just say they'll be friends and that's it, but seeing as we started off a little differently to most people I'll ask for your phone number. I'm gonna be bringing you shitloads of candy right? Better to have a way to contact you if I'm late again or whatever." she said, beaming at him.

Nobody ever smiled like that at Amaimon, nor did they ask to be his friend and have his phone number for affirmations of friendliness. He felt speechless; no information was stored away in his mind on how to reply to her.

Some part of him must have still been working, because he handed her his cell and she immediately typed in her own number.

"Just send me a message when you get a chance and I'll add your number. Make sure to mention it's you. You know you're alright, for a guy who tried to kill my friends. This friendship will be interesting." She muttered before closing her eyes and leaning back against the tree.

Amaimon felt the phone land in his lap and his back rest against the tree as hers did. The sun shone onto his skin, and he slowly let his eyes slide shut to enjoy the feeling.

* * *

 **Chio's PoV**

A particularly screechy bird stirred her awake, and for a minute Chio didn't really know where she was. The sound of avid chewing awoke her further, and suddenly she was frightfully aware of the fact that she had been sleeping against the Demon King of Earth while he consumed endless brownies.

Amaimon's blue eyes wandered down to look at her, seemingly unbothered by the fact that she was using him as a temporary pillow.

"What happened?" she asked, hoping the answer was anything but what she knew it to be.

"You fell asleep while we were enjoying the sun." he said. Oh no. This was mortifying enough to kill her.

"Why didn't you wake me? Or leave?" Chio huffed, glancing around in concern. Hopefully nobody she knew had seen them. It couldn't possibly get any worse than this.

"You looked tired so I decided to let you sleep. Abandoning you here would've been unsafe, also you were sleeping on me so I couldn't move." Amaimon muttered. Chio had been wrong; it could get so much worse. Cheeks aflame, she moved her head off his shoulder and put a few inches between them.

"Thanks I guess..." she said quietly, not looking at him. She supposed it had been pretty decent of him to not just screw off as soon as she let her guard down.

"It was no trouble, it gave me time to further enjoy the sun and the breeze." He muttered through a mouthful of brownie.

In the distance, the clock tower gave off a series of loud clangs signifying the change in time. Chio felt her face contort in horror when she realized just how long she had been out. The boys would definitely be up by now, and they'd be wondering where in the hell she was. Even the egg lie wouldn't work now.

"Shit, I have to go, I've been out far too long." she exclaimed, getting to her feet. Amaimon frowned at this, standing up beside her.

"Is someone expecting you?" he asked.

"No, I just intended to get back way before this is all..." Chio mumbled. It wasn't the complete truth, but she didn't want to outright say that she was keeping their meeting a secret. It just felt wrong. Amaimon probably already knew this was the case though, as he just nodded.

"Here, they were very good. I expect all your work to be of this standard. Next time I want cookies, something sugary and interesting to look at. You can decide the quantity based on the sizes." he said, scratching his chin in thought as he handed over the containers. Chio just sighed; she'd have to get researching then. Taking the containers she realized one was slightly heavier than what it should be, pulling off the lid she saw why. One lone brownie sat in the case, untouched.

"You missed one" she said, extending the container back to Amaimon. Amaimon just looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

"I know. You eat it. I'm leaving now. Thank you for teaching me about enjoyment, I look forward to tasting my cookies tomorrow. Contact me once you've prepared them." he said, strolling away. Chio blanched. Tomorrow? Who did he think she was a superhero? How on earth would she be able to get them ready by then with her homework and double life running at full speed...?

It was too late to ask him any of these questions as he had already vanished around a corner, leaving Chio alone. She walked slowly back to the dorms, not caring about how late she would be. There was really no point considering how long she'd already been gone. Honestly she wanted some time to clear her head, after all that business with Amaimon she was unsure what she was doing.

At first when she'd sat down to enjoy the weather she'd been puzzled as to why Amaimon had no comprehension of any of it. He was thousands of years old wasn't he? Surely he knew far more than Chio, so enjoyment and happiness shouldn't be so foreign to him. But no, apparently he had a rather warped view on such things. Naturally, Chio had taken it upon herself to educate him. It couldn't hurt right?

The use of the murder metaphor had been rather spontaneous, but it had worked at least. It figured that the only way to break through his thick skull was using death related examples.

Despite it all, sitting next to him under the tree had been nice, comforting almost. Even though he was a murdering demon king who sought to aggravate her friends at every turn, she hadn't felt even slightly unsafe. She had felt so comfortable and safe that she'd fallen asleep next to him, going so far as to lean on his shoulder like a scene from some schoolgirl romance manga. Despicable.

It had been one peaceful sleep though, not a single unpleasant image had flown through her mind. Chio had almost been reluctant to move away, but she couldn't stay without seeming weird. The sound of the clock tower had further forced her to get going and so here she was, shamefully creeping home to face two concerned Okumuras and a cookbook. She hadn't even finished her homework yet either.

* * *

"So you just wanted to go for a walk and you got lost?" Rin asked skeptically. Chio nodded, trying to seem as convincing as possible. She really didn't need any more weirdness in her life, especially with Yukio giving her the stink eye when he thought she wasn't looking. Chio couldn't blame him, he just wanted to protect his brother, yet it still hurt.

"You should have given us a call Chio-san, we could've helped you home." Yukio said. True, another hole in her terrible lie.

"Yeah, but I didn't want to burden you. I need to be able to find my way around alone." she reasoned, earning her a look of sympathy from Rin.

"I suppose you have a point, ah well, it doesn't matter now right? I'm making salmon for lunch so if you want come help after you get cleaned up." Rin said merrily, leaving to go get started. Chio only nodded and headed off to her room.

She quickly tossed her bag into the corner and pulled a sweater over her head. It was a little chilly in the kitchen sometimes, despite all the ovens. Chio was about to leave to scrub her face before she remembered the brownie.

It was pretty good, soft and chewy like a good brownie was meant to be. The chocolate chips had been a fantastic addition. Why had he left it for her? Maybe it was just one too many for him to eat. Chio popped the final piece into her mouth and headed to the bathroom. Rin would soon discover the brownies she had left for them and start stuffing himself, Chio needed to mentally prepare for the onslaught of crumbs.

* * *

 **So good to finally get this up. Please Review for free Waffle love, and follow for the down-low on new chapters. Planning a double update today and maybe next week as a show of loyalty to this fanfic.**

 **Sincerely, LostWaffle. :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys, two chapters a day for your patience!**

 **The next song will be "Ah-Ha" by Imogen Heap. I think it's a great song to show Amaimon's nature, all mischevious and naughty... Saw a great AMV with this song for him, so give the credit to the creator by going to see it yourselves!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own this stuff.**

* * *

 **Chapter 7 - A Sweet Investment**

Chio harshly brushed her teeth, trying to make sure she didn't take too long. It was only about fifteen minutes till cram school got started and the last thing she needed was to be late. It was the mission today, and she wanted to stun. She also had cookies to bake after, so getting wounded would only make her life harder.

She ran her hands over all her attached weapons quickly before shoving her key in the door and running towards her class like a madwoman.

"Hey, looks like Mayami made it after all." Shima said gladly, giving her a grin. Chio almost rolled her eyes at him.

"Had to pick up some stuff from the dorm, but looks like it didn't make me too late." Chio mumbled. Shura and Yukio were animatedly talking at the front of the class, or rather Shura was teasing Yukio and he was scowling in response.

"How are you feeling about the mission Chio-san?" Shiemi asked.

"Pretty good, what about you?" Chio asked, eyeing the gardener's familiar. He was so small… Chio hoped he'd be able to protect Shiemi should things get rough. If not, Chio made a mental note to watch the blonde tamer to make sure she could help out.

"Nii-chan and I feel quite optimistic, apparently it's only a mild insect infestation at a private hospital, and the hospital is under construction so thankfully no patients are at risk. Yuki-chan said we'd be going in to take out to queen so that the hive scatters." Sheimi explained.

A demon bug infestation? Seemed easy enough for Exwires, but Chio would be prepared for the worst.

"Moriyama, did you say…insect infestation?" Shima whimpered, clutching his staff. Shiemi gave him a look of concern before nodding. Shima immediately screeched, running off to shelter beneath a desk.

"Is he afraid of insects?" Chio laughed. Scared Shima was probably the greatest thing she had ever laid eyes on.

"Unfortunately he is. I hope this mission isn't too stressful for him" Shiemi muttered. Chio honestly hoped it was, as terrible as that sounded. It was too funny to watch him flip out.

Everyone had a sadistic side, and when it came to watching people squirm over things like snakes or bugs, Chio let her own run wild. Maybe she'd catch a few centipedes and put them in his lunch box later. She chatted idly with Shiemi and Rin for another few minutes before Yukio and Shura had them line up and ship out.

It was time to perform, after all, she was being evaluated for future missions today.

* * *

The hospital definitely looked run down, no wonder it was under construction. The outer stone walls were dingy and yellowing. They had once been a white color, but years of weather damage and mold had taken their toll it seemed. Rather than taking the conventional way in, they ended up crossing from the neighboring building's roof to the hospital roof by using a spare ladder. According to Yukio the bugs were least active on the upper floors, preferring the depths of the basements as a nest.

"Okay, everyone stay clear. If you see any movement, make sure to get yourself protected using whatever means you require" Shura said sternly. They marched through the halls, ghostly flickering lights and random shed shells lying discarded. It smelled of rot and decay.

A few of the roach creatures flew around the corner, buzzing angrily as they saw them. Yukio whipped his guns out and shot them before they even got close. Shima had turned a deathly pale color, a scream dying on his lips. Bugs had never bothered Chio, but these roach things were really annoying. If they were going to find and kill the queen, she hoped to god they could do it quickly. She had a feeling the smell of this place wasn't going to wash out easily.

"I say we split off into two groups, you guys come with me, the rest stay with Yukio so he doesn't get too scared. If one of us finds the queen we all regroup and prepare to kill it." Shura said, ferrying off half the class before anyone could question her.

That left her, Rin, Shima, and Shiemi with Yukio. Great, she was stuck with clingy as hell bug-phobic Shima.

"Let's head this way, insect demons tend to prefer the darkest coldest parts of buildings to nest in. the lower the colder." Yukio said, pointing to a stairwell. Fantastic, now they would be in near complete darkness.

Any artificial light would only attract the things so only a small one was permitted much to Shima's dismay. As they descended into the pitch black moist lower level, Chio cursed herself for not wearing a larger coat. It was damn cold. Finally they reached the bottom, and a light shone though a doorway. The door looked chewed, as though a horde of creatures had eaten their way past it. The roaches must've been keen on getting in here.

Once they edged in, Chio heard a faint scratching. Nothing emerged however, so she assumed it had been her mind playing tricks on her. Yukio turned to face them, scowling at Rin who was prodding a jar of preserved kidneys with his sheathed sword.

"I think we're close, roach activity seems to be high down here as you can see. Be on your guard for any movement. These things have a nasty bite, it takes a long time to heal." he warned. Suddenly she heard it again, the scratching.

"Wait!" she said, straining to hear it. Everyone stopped and looked at her questioningly. Chio gripped her guns in paranoia, she hadn't been dreaming when she heard it, but why wasn't it showing itself? Suddenly, from all sided they flew in, larger and faster than the measly ones they had seen above.

She pulled her guns free from her belt, and fired. Chio was rather good at hitting her targets if she did say so herself, she had never missed so horribly that a wound hadn't even been inflicted on it. One gun pointed to the left, and the other to the right she eliminated roach after roach quickly and efficiently. She could see them in the corners of her eyes, and would adjust the trajectory of her bullets each time. One of the things perched itself on Rin's shoulder with intention to bite, and she blew it's shiny head off.

Chio heard the click of an empty clip, which was soon followed by another as both her guns came up empty. Yukio pulled his own free, and began shooting in her place, only to put them away a second later as the swarm died out.

Silence. All she could hear now was the heavy breathing of her team members.

"Shit Four-Eyes, she's as good as you with those peashooters." Shura said from down the other end of the dark hall. The other half of the class emerged behind her, impressed looks on their faces. Chio looked at the members of her own group, Shiemi just looked surprised the bugs had been so big, while Shima looked like he wanted to die. Rin however, looked astounded and rather proud that they hadn't yet struggled like everyone had thought they would.

Yukio for the first time since she had met him, looked at her with concern. Concern that she might be dangerous. Chio almost wanted to take back her actions just because of that.

"Let's get moving, the center of the nest isn't far from here." Yukio said tensely, leading them off into a darkened hall.

The sound of heavy buzzing and scuttling insect legs increased in volume as they got closer. Only a set of double doors remained now, the ventilation above was all but chewed through. Chio watched as Shura pulled the pin out of a holy water grenade and threw it into the opening. Moments later, the explosion sounded and the buzzing turned angry, insects flooded from the holes in the walls, their exoskeletons hissing and bubbling as the blessed water burnt through them.

They started dropping rather quickly after this, their pointy legs curling in as death took them.

"Is that it now? Is it over?" Shima squeaked.

"No. We need to check the queen is dead. Any volunteers to go in? First three in are shoe-ins for the next big mission…" Shura teased. Yes, she had to take this chance. The next big mission would be a good chance for her to take on something bigger than she was used to. Asmodeus wasn't going to be a small fry after all. Her hand shot up, and Shura grinned.

"Mayami has volunteered, anyone looking to accompany her or should I just tell Sir Pheles you aren't ready for the prime time?" She pressed, her pink eyes scouring the group for even a flinch she could pass off as a show of volunteering.

"I'll go!" Shiemi said, Nii-chan chirping along in agreement. That had been surprising, after all no one expected her to make the gutsy moves when people like Rin and Bon occupied the group. Rin clearly picked up on this, and threw his hand up just as Izumo and Bon did, leaving them at a stalemate.

"I'm afraid we only need one last volunteer, please decide quickly who will go." Yukio said, giving his brother a look that clearly said, _not you_.

"Hold up Scaredy-Four-Eyes, I think we should go with the nice pattern we had established so far, and let Kamiki go. They are females after all, therefore the Queen is less likely to attack them if she still lives." Shura suggested, solving everyone's problems at once. Well, not everyone's as Rin looked incredibly put off by her idea.

"Let's go everyone, hopefully it won't take too long…" Shiemi mumbled, looping her arm through Chio's. Izumo rolled her eyes before pushing open the door slowly, and peering in.

"I think it's clear, let's hurry and get this over with." Izumo said tiredly.

Quietly they crept into the room, which turned out to be a kitchen of all things. How fitting that such a terrible infestation had begun in a kitchen. Dead and dying demon roaches littered the floor like carpet, a thick coating of rot and sheddings coating the once pristine tile floor. In the far corner was a lump, it reminded Chio of a potato in shape, but the shine and glisten of it's skin told her it was in fact not one of her favorite vegetables.

"Is that…" Shiemi whispered.

The queen.

"Izumo, do you think you could get your familiars to poke at it?" Chio suggested. The purple haired girl frowned, before summoning the two Gods of Harvest.

"See if it lives, if it does, kill it." Izumo commanded. The two demons floated over to the large lump, but before they could get close enough to touch it turned and sent them flying. The Queen's many eyes focused on the three girls and it crab-hobbled over. It was missing nearly half it's legs, yet the speed was still something to be worried about.

"Nii-chan, shield us!" Shiemi yelled, and the little Green man produced a heavy webbing of jungle vine to hold back the bug. Slowly it used it's sharp pincers to chop away at the barricade, meanwhile, Chio reloaded.

"I'm going to shoot it in the head until it stops moving." Chio declared, taking aim.

"No, wait for the others to come and assist." Izumo said. There was no time to wait, the Queen was slicing away at Nii-chan's barrier and the entrance they had come through was on the opposite side. Anyone who tried to come help would be mincemeat.

"Can't you see where we are? No one can come and help without getting themselves killed. We have to take care of this." Chio insisted. Was Izumo that opposed to her that she'd rather die or cause death than fight by her side?

"You can't possibly shoot through that thick outer shell enough to kill it before it reaches us. Don't be an idiot." Izumo retorted.

"Then help me! Have your familiars attack it as soon as Nii-chan drops the barrier, weaken it enough for me to shoot it through the eyes at least. It has over fifty of them so I won't miss even in the worst case." Chio said, there were very few vines separating them now, it was now or never.

"Fine. But you better not miss." Izumo screamed over the roach queen's roars.

"Don't worry, I won't" Chio said, staring her target down with a focused eye.

* * *

"You took down this entire thing by yourselves? That is pretty impressive…" Bon trailed off, a hand resting on the belly of the now dead roach queen.

The events of the shoot down had happened fairly quickly. As soon as Shiemi had pulled back Nii-chan, Izumo's familiars had swarmed around the giant insect and torn away at it's thick shell enough for bullets to permeate and damage the brain and organs beneath it. As soon as the two foxes had departed, Chio took her aim and opened fire until she had exhausted her ammunition. Of course it had died long before that, but better to be safe than sorry right?

After the firing had ceased and the bug had bit the dust, the others crept in. Shura immediately put her sword through the belly of the bug as a safety measure, but it was already dead.

Now everyone sat having their scrapes double-checked while they waited for a team to finish purifying and cleaning up the remains. No use leaving it all here to fester and become the home to something far more disgusting.

"Now that we've gotten everyone cleared for safe return to the academy we should be able to actually leave right? Why are we still here?" Izumo grumbled.

"I don't know, maybe they've found another issue they want us to deal with?" Shiemi suggested, smiling optimistically.

"I doubt it, we're only Exwires. Two missions in such a short time period would be asking for an incident. Not that I wouldn't be able to deal with the strain or anything." Chio said. It was getting ridiculous now, they should've left ages ago.

"Yukio, what's going on? We should've been gone by now… This place stinks too so don't lie to me." Rin said impatiently, his tail swishing. Yukio sighed.

"I'll be honest with you, but only if you swear to stay here and not act on your impulses. It's Amaimon, he's been sighted around the hospital scaffolding. We don't know why he's here; if he wanted to attack you again he would've done so before, and we have reinforcements here now putting him at a disadvantage. This has led us to believe he's only watching you and intends to act later." Yukio explained quickly.

Amaimon was here? What the hell was that idiot thinking? If what Yukio said was true and he was here to observe Rin, that meant he was plotting to hurt him. Chio wasn't about to allow that. She couldn't exactly go and approach Amaimon now, but she'd be seeing him soon for her delivery of the cookies and she could interrogate him then.

"The Dragoons have him in their sights, if he makes one wrong move they'll take the shot." Shura said, gulping down a can of beer enthusiastically.

They were going to shoot him? They couldn't, it would…it would kill him!

"You can't shoot him!" Chio blurted, attracting the attention of almost every person in the vicinity.

Yukio and Rin gave her questioning glances, and Shura raised her eyebrows in amusement.

"If you kill him now you'll never know what he's planning. Why don't you let him live a little longer and see if you can figure out why he's here?" she said sloppily, it was a terrible suggestion considering Amaimon was an all powerful demon king, but it was the only thing she could come out with to disguise her outburst.

"As much as I would love to figure out his plan, we simply can't afford to let such a high risk demon roam free. It's obvious he came here to instigate a fight with Rin somehow, or gather intel on how best to do so in future. I will not lose my brother in a game of cat and mouse." Yukio said, his tone and words were kind, but his eyes were the opposite. A cold and desperate emotional balance was swaying dangerously inside them.

Chio wondered if Yukio had caught onto her true reasoning for wanting Amaimon to be spared, although Chio couldn't fathom how he could've because she herself didn't know why she wanted him alive. The boy had tried to kill Rin and maim her friends; surely she should be happy they had him in their sights.

On reflection she realized he couldn't have seen her true inner conflict; Yukio was far too caught up in some other shit pile he had fermenting, that much was obvious from his lack of concern regarding her erratic behaviors recently. Why had she ever worried he'd find her out? Yukio was his own brand of idiot.

"He's moving, towards the south of the building from the looks of things." A random man said to Yukio, his fingers pressed against his earpiece.

"Take the shot." Yukio said instantly, his eyes dark. Chio frowned. They had no understanding of why he was here and they were just going to slaughter him. Even Rin looked somewhat resistant, his electric blue eyes filled with concern.

The sound of a sniper rifle echoed through the old building, signaling that a shot had been fired. Chio felt her stomach hit the floor and her sanity shake. Was he dead? Were the ingredients for his cookies just going to go down the drain and into the trash? The other day Amaimon had seemed so different to what everyone described him to be, he was curious and intelligent. It was as though he wanted to learn and understand people better. Chio hadn't doubted for a second that this was genuine; perhaps if he could learn more about Assiah and humans he wouldn't be so screwy. But that was all gone if he was dead. All of that wasted potential.

Chio would do almost anything to protect her friends, but Amaimon was also a friend to her. Losing a friend hurt.

"What?" Yukio gasped, his eyes wide with something that was a mix between fear and anger.

"What happened?" Rin asked.

"Amaimon anticipated the bullet and moved before it could hit him. He's gone, they can't see him anymore." Yukio said through clenched teeth.

"So he could be anywhere?" Bon hissed, sharing a worried glace with Shima and Konekomaru.

Throwing everyone off, a pink cloud of smoke appeared. Chio sighed, great, _he_ was here.

"Never fear Okumura-sensei, I can assure you Amaimon will not be causing any trouble to you or your students today. He was merely…monitoring an investment." Mephisto exclaimed. How very unhelpful. Chio expected nothing more from the principal though, he was after all a cracker.

"That tells us nothing, the fact that he was even here poses a threat to everyone. What would happen if another demon entered the premises looking to engage Amaimon in battle? We would be collateral damage right? What investment could he possibly need to monitor in this derelict building?" Shura asked, her tone dangerously low.

She was angry, that much was obvious. Shura always seemed rather unaffected by everything, even though underneath it all she was calculating like a machine. When you started seeing that side of her poke up to the surface you knew she was serious.

"No other demons have such business with him that they'd seek him out in a place crawling with exorcists, let alone the son of Satan. His investments are not mine; therefore I have no right to disclose information to you or anyone else about them. I trust you all appreciate such a principle in your own special ways." Mephisto replied smoothly.

Mephisto didn't deny that they would all be mere collateral damage in the event of a demonic fight between higher level demons such as Amaimon. He also didn't directly address the reason for Amaimon being here, which Chio found interesting. So the cracker knew more than he was letting on, and by the looks of him it was a lot more. Yet there was a subtle threat there in his last sentence.

Basically, don't ask unless you want to share your own shit around too.

"Last time he came skulking around we had a lot of trouble to wade out of. How can you just expect us to take your word for it now?" Yukio piped up angrily.

"I don't. I'm simply letting you know that it's a waste of your time to concern yourself with him. If you do, you'll only be left annoyed and frustrated. It would be in your best interest to turn a blind eye to him from now on, leave him be." Mephisto mused, twirling his umbrella absentmindedly.

Yukio looked as though he detested Mephisto at that moment, while nearly everyone else looked baffled. Shura's face hadn't changed at all. It was like she knew a game was being played and rather than tip the board she wanted to join.

"When will this investment of his come to fruition then?" Shura asked. Mephisto grinned at this question.

"It already is. Seeing as you haven't noticed anything going awry until now, it would be safe to assume the investment is of no real harm to you. Then again, perception might tell you otherwise." Mephisto rambled.

What was he talking about? Amaimon had some sort of investment he was keeping an eye on that much was clear. The end product was supposedly already emerging and meant no harm to them, yet perception could change this? It sounded like complete nonsense, but Chio figured there was some huge piece they were all missing that would cause everything to slot into place.

Everyone was quiet, seeming to consider Mephisto's words carefully.

"I'll take your word for it for the time being, but if he crosses the line I'll kill him. Make sure he knows where the line is." Shura declared. With that, the scantily clad woman returned her blade to her chest and resumed her alcoholic binge in peace. Yukio seemed frozen, probably spiraling into madness from the lack of control.

"I'll ensure he knows, although, the investment comes before his own life, so don't expect much cooperation." Mephisto said, amusement clear in his annoying posture.

"What could possibly mean so much to him around here?" Chio wondered out loud, completely lost in the hidden chapter of Amaimon she hadn't ever expected to exist.

Chio had never seen Amaimon as a serious person, at least, serious enough to pursue something at the risk of losing his life. Demons were virtually undead as they always retreated to Gehenna once vanquished in Assiah. The ties to Gehenna kept them living, as their consciousness could return there to whatever it had left for a different form in the human world. To think of Amaimon running around like a fool waiting for some potentially murderous thing to come about that he actually wanted, it was wrong and odd and just plain weird.

"An interesting question Ichigo-san, perhaps the answer is even more so." Mephisto murmured before vanishing in another cloud of his trademark smoke. That asshat.

"Well, let's head out. Nothing more to do here…" Shura belched, grabbing at Yukio and Rin expectantly.

Yukio's face turned stony, and he pushed the tipsy woman away.

"If something is of such great importance to Amaimon that he'd die for it, we must find it right away. It could be the key to getting rid of him, once and for all." Yukio said darkly.

Chio felt her heart darken, whatever this thing was now people would be crawling around looking for it, just so they could get rid of Amaimon, and Yukio would be the head of operations.

Having friends was so much harder than she had anticipated.

* * *

 **Another chapter for you guys. Hope it was okay!** **I really do love writing Mephisto though... (-w-)**

 **Sincerely, Lostwaffle.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi Everyone.**

 **Firstly, I am mega-sorry about the wait! I have so much writing backlogged onto my computer so it will essentially just be me updating for the next few weeks. I have like hardly any time to do this anymore, my shifts are like, 12+ hours most days! On top of that I'm going back to school soon and I'll have less time after that! That aside, here are a good few chapters to get the ball rolling again :)**

 **This chapter's song is what I'd say totally sums up the way Amaimon and Chio see each other. They know that the other is somehow poisonous, yet they can't resist the temptation and find each other too alluring to forget. Together it makes for a dangerously delicious encounter! Ha. *sobs***

 **Go have a listen to "Fruit" by Marina and the Diamonds, I really love their sound. I think that it somehow oddly compliments Amaimon's persona...**

* * *

 **Chapter 8** \- Through the Window

Chio was exhausted from her mission with her fellow Exwires, and quite frankly she wanted to sleep but two things kept her from doing so.

The first was her obligation to bake the cookies for Amaimon, which actually came in handy considering the strange appearance he had made at their mission site. The second was the inevitable slurry of nightmares she'd be forced to bathe in. Tiredness from a hard day's work was preferable to tiredness from a night of pain and terror.

The cookie recipe Chio chose fit the two standards the demon had set the previous day, they were interesting to look at and sugary. A simple sugar cookie was the base dough for this cookie, using a few cutters in the shape of flowers and clouds she had cut them out, then cut a smaller portion of dough from the centre. This effectively left her with flower rings and cloud rings.

Chio took this opportunity to bash the life out of some hard boiled candies, blue, red and green were their colors. Sprinkling the crushed sugar sweet into the centre of each shaped cut of cookie dough, she shoved them into the oven and waited. According to the recipe, the crushed candy would melt and then re-harden, looking like a colored candy window once baked.

That was plenty interesting right? Ukobach kindly whipped up a white icing to drizzle across some, while Chio got a couple plates ready and prepared some sugar to sprinkle over the non-iced ones. Like snow almost. They were adorable in the book, and surely would look just as cute if she had a try.

Thunder echoed throughout the boys dorm, sound of harsh rain following. It wasn't letting up at all. The rain had started just after she had gotten back, and ever since Chio had been begging for it to stop so she wouldn't need to go out and deliver in a storm. Luck wasn't on her side as usual. Ukobach tapped her on the shoulder, and she remembered it was time to take the cookies out.

As luck would have it, her prayers had been heard but not for the rain. The cookies were pretty awesome, the candies had melted and met with the cookie, forming a colored pane of goodness in the middle of each cookie. He was going to love this. Not that Chio cared what he thought really.

They cooled for half an hour, and Chio skimmed another recipe book for any future winners. A bath had sounded nice, but she couldn't leave the cookies where Rin could get to them. Once they finally cooled she began to decorate, icing one half and sprinkling the other with a dusting of powdered sugar. Both cookies already got a sprinkle of regular granulated sugar.

Chio thought she might've been getting high off the sheer amount of sugar surrounding her.

The largest plate travelled up to her room with her to fetch her phone, and the smaller one stayed to feed the boys whenever they came to start dinner. Chio had eaten some packet ramen earlier to make time for her baking and Amaimon's delivery. Missing a Rin-Meal would suck, but tomorrow's would just be sweeter for it.

Chio set the plate down on her desk and flipped her cell open. Sure enough, a message was labeled unread from a new number.

 **"Hello Ichigo, it is I Amaimon, King of Earth. "**

 **-Unknown number**

Chio snorted into her palm, and quickly typed out a response.

 _"Hello Amaimon, it is I Chio, Baker of Cookies. Shall I meet you under the tree again?"_

 _-Chio_

Blushing slightly, she sent it and waited for a response. None came. Was he away from his phone? Maybe he was waiting right now. Ichigo paled at that, he might spill her secret if she made him wait in the rain.

She pulled on a coat and reached for a hat, when a tap sounded from her window. Believing it to be her imagination, she continued to get ready for her walk in the rain when a series of four taps was heard. Certainly not her imagination then.

Outside her window a rather soggy King of Earth a hovered. Chio quickly pushed open the crotchety old window and stared in surprise before speaking.

"What are you doing here?" she whispered, frightened the boys might hear.

"It was raining so I decided it best to pick up the cookies myself." Amaimon said. Chio frowned.

"But I'm supposed to deliver them." she countered. Now he frowned, clearly disagreeing for whatever reason.

"It is raining outside, if you were to attempt to deliver the cookies to me we would both become wet, as would the cookies. This is more sensible." Amaimon explained, a hint of a grin on his face.

"Well get in here then, you're soaking wet. You can't eat cookies in the rain anyway." Chio murmured, embarrassed at the prospect of having him in her room.

Amaimon crept through her window, dragging water all the way with him. He truly was soaked. Chio reached for a towel she had folded on her bed and handed it to him.

"Here, dry off and then have some cookies. You're dripping all over the place…"

Amaimon draped the towel over his head, tousling the moisture out of his green hair with it. It was rather adorable, his cheeks were tinged pink from the cold only adding to the look.

"What are you staring at?" he asked suddenly, causing her to blanch.

"N-nothing, just get dried off. Oh god what about your clothes, they're dripping wet." Chio scowled, squeezing some rain from his tie.

"It's not an issue." Amaimon said simply, snapping his fingers. In a millisecond he was virtually dry, spare his hair and skin in some areas. Chio gaped.

"Cool, I wish I could do that." she muttered, awestruck at his ability.

Amaimon said nothing, only cocking his head to the side in amusement. He was sort of smiling again, something she suspected he didn't do often.

"Can I have the cookies now?" he asked. Chio sighed, same old same old.

Picking up the plate she smiled and offered him one. Of course he just took the whole thing and eagerly let his eyes rake over the them.

"They are very interesting to look at. But will they taste good?" Amaimon said aloud as he plucked a cookie and began to eat it.

"Well?" Chio asked tensely.

He carried on chewing, showing no signs of like or dislike, until he reached the candy center. At that moment, he sat on her bed and his pace picked up, moving from smaller bites to larger ones.

"Extraordinary. You fused the cookie with candy in a way I was not expecting." he mumbled. Chio grinned victoriously, yet again she had…. Wait what had she done to feel like this?

Baked Amaimon a plate of cookies he liked.

Why was she bothered by his opinion? It was just a means of buying his silence, so as long as he was happy with the products she was happy. Nothing more…

"Sit." He said, blue eyes flitting to the spot on the bed nearest the pillow. Chio did so, throwing the coat off and pulling her knees to her chest.

It was silent for a few minutes, the only sound being Amaimon's chewing, and then she remembered what she wanted to ask.

"Why were you at the old hospital today? Everyone flipped their shit because they thought you wanted to beat Rin's skull in or something. We weren't allowed to leave until you narrowly avoided death by Dragoon…" she asked.

Amaimon turned to look at her and laughed through his cookie, which caught Chio off guard as she was used to him being rather stoic.

"I was watching over something. It wasn't younger brother, so your exorcist friends and Okumura Yukio can stop _flipping their shit_. Also, I didn't narrowly avoid anything, I knew he was there I just let him think I didn't." he explained bemusedly.

"Mephisto said you were watching over an investment that is already starting to come to fruition. What is it?" Chio continued bluntly.

At this Amaimon's face grew cold and dark, any signs of enjoyment simmering away to nothing.

"Is that all he said?" he asked her, not breaking eye contact.

"He also said that your investment isn't harmful, unless people's perceptions make it so…Or something like that. I didn't get it, I figure there this huge thing I'm missing, and if I find out what it is I'll know what he meant. Best bet is that the huge thing I'm missing is what your investment actually is." Chio said. Amaimon gave away nothing.

"You're not wrong, but you're also not right." Amaimon said vaguely, finally looking away from her.

"How so?" she pressed.

"The investment could be harmful to me if I don't constantly monitor it. That's where you are wrong. Everything else was more or less accurate."Amaimon drawled.

"That's right, the cracker said something about that too, something about the investment coming before your own life or meaning more than it or…I don't know. I'm too tired to give a shit about the exact terminology." Chio sighed.

"One of those is the correct summarization, the other is not." Amaimon said.

"Which one is right then?" she asked impatiently.

"That is irrelevant. The investment is important and that is all you need to know. No more questions about it now. Did you not have an important exorcist job today in that hospital? It was crawling with demon roaches. I assume you were the extermination team?" he prompted, attempting to divert the conversation.

Chio decided to let him, seeing as the investment discussion had been fairly dry and uninformative. She'd try again some other time once she'd really thought about what the cracker had said.

"Yes, we went in to kill the queen so that hive would disperse. It was fun, I've been wanting to go on a mission for so long." Chio said wistfully.

"It was successful then?" Amaimon said, nibbling on another cookie.

"Yeah, Izumo, Shiemi, and I took out the queen together, I don't think I've ever seen that many bugs in my life…" she muttered dryly, recalling Shima's reaction to just a single baby roach in the entrance.

Amaimon tuned in a little more at her admission of shock.

"Do insects bother you? I heard a lot of screaming." Amaimon exclaimed. It must have been Shima, the boy had been a wreck for the whole mission. It was hilarious.

"No, that was Shima, the pink haired idiot. He's petrified of bugs, lost his mind when we went in there." Chio laughed.

"You find his fear amusing?" Amaimon asked, looking intrigued at her laughter.

"Shima's alright, he just flirts too much. He always pretends to be this over-confident, master-of-all-women type and I can't stand that. It was nice to see him squirm for once instead of pretending to be all untouchable." Chio explained simply.

"So he is interested in you? But you find him repulsive." Amaimon mused, something similar to satisfaction in his voice.

"What? No. He just behaves like that around all women. I don't find him repulsive; I just find some of his behavior annoying. Underneath it all he seems okay." she said lightly, grinning at her friend. Amaimon didn't grin back, instead he just frowned.

"So you would consider him as a romantic partner?" he finally said. Chio shivered. No way in a million years.

"You idiot, I just said I wouldn't. You can think someone is nice without wanting to be involved with them you know!" she hissed.

"I know that." Amaimon said defensively.

"Then act like it. Anyway, where's Behemoth?" Chio asked, realizing that the large hobgoblin was missing.

"He is away with his own kind. Possibly in Gehenna causing trouble." Amaimon said.

Gehenna? It was hard to imagine Behemoth doing anything alone, but then again, he was a demon. A question rose in her throat, but she held it back afraid of what the answer might be. Oh well, you only live once right?

* * *

 **Whoa I know, short chapter... Never fear, there are more coming. Just click onwards! Please Review and all that, I like to hear what you think. 3**

 **Sincerely, LostWaffle xx**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey Yo! New chapter for all the people kind enough to bother clicking and reading my story.**

 **The song for this chapter would probably be "Wide Awake" by Katy Perry. I really feel like this song is a good fit for Chio personally, it just goes so well considering her life so far and all the things she had had to deal with as a result of her demonic powers. This chapter also fits it well seeing as we are seeing a large part of Chio!**

 **Happy reading and happy listening!**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing cept' my OC. Also sorry for forgetting the disclaimer on Chapter 8 :P**

* * *

 **Chapter 9** \- Terror in the Night

"What is Gehenna like?" she asked.

Amaimon leaned back against the wall, his thought drifting away at her question. After a momentary silence, he spoke up.

"It's horrifying and beautiful at the same time." he said.

"Be more descriptive, what does it look like? Feel like?" Chio asked, reclining on the bed in a partial fetal position.

"You cannot feel in Gehenna like you can in Assiah. Every feeling there is a shadow's shadow of a feeling here, so weak and empty it hardly has worth. The only things we can truly feel are carnal like rage, savagery, and bloodlust. As for looks, that depends on where you go." Amaimon said.

Chio couldn't imagine not being able to feel properly, it probably drove demons mad knowing that across from them sat a world where people felt things they never could daily. Some of Amaimon's weirdness seemed to make sense now. She could imagine her father, driven mad by lust and being unable to properly caress a flower petal or enjoy the sun as a distraction. It was easy to go without all that sexual stuff even with him as her father; it had to be much the same for demons if they had the ability to feel. However, it would scratch away at your mind after a while if all you knew was bloodshed and carnal action because you couldn't.

"Tell me about places in Gehenna." She asked, closing her eyes.

"There is an entire river that runs endlessly through it, the river is bloody and carries many dead creatures, limbs torn and shred to parts, faces mutilated." Amaimon muttered. Chio scowled.

"Not like that, I meant places of significance. Like your home, or a place you like being. A not-gory kind of place if such a place could ever exist there, I mean it must. If there can be both terrible and wonderful places in Assiah, why not in Gehhena too?" she pondered out loud.

Amaimon was quiet, then suddenly she felt him sprawl out behind her.

"There is a forest of black trees with crisp red leaves that never fall, I often visit there when I have participated in a great battle and won so I can reflect on my victory. I also like to make my plans there. It is…a shadow of peaceful. Like you feel the tree in the park is. I think that if I could feel in Gehenna, it would feel like it did to sit beneath that tree in the park when I go there." He said wistfully.

"Are there other places you enjoy visiting?" she asked.

"Yes." He answered.

For the next half an hour Chio listened to him describe a vast number of places large and small that he found pleasant, until sleep won out and she dozed off.

* * *

Chio blinked herself awake as the morning sun shone in. That had to have been the most peaceful sleep of her life so far…What had been different?

Suddenly she realized her pillow was strangely firm and warm for a pillow. Looking at it more closely, she discovered it was actually Amaimon. The Demon King laid peacefully asleep, his normally blank expression sort of serene. He smelled nice, and he was really comfortable. Chio kind of wanted to just doze back off. However Amaimon's eyes flickered open before she could, turning to look at her.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked, his voice sounding perfectly alert for someone who had just been sleeping.

"Great actually. Why are you still here?" she asked. He was still here, in her bed. And she was resting against him. Christ.

"You fell asleep while I was telling you about Gehenna last night, and I didn't want to disturb you by moving. Also, you appeared to be having some sort of sleep distress or night terror so I calmed you down." He said bluntly. He had calmed her down? How?

"How did you calm me down? I never get through a night without bad dreams…" Chio said in a confused awe.

"You were thrashing a little, so I held you and asked you what was wrong. You didn't respond, but you stopped thrashing after I asked you the second time." He explained.

Chio was speechless, and it must have showed because he looked a little more than pleased with himself.

"Nobody has ever been able to do that before. This is the first good night's sleep I've had since…since I started having nightmares." she said.

"What are they about?" Amaimon asked.

Chio felt the all too familiar weight in her chest that came with the answer to that question. She never told anyone about her dreams. Mephisto already knew, how he did she couldn't fathom. Ume suspected it. Rin and Yukio merely knew she had dreams of this kind, but had no idea what went on in them.

Telling people risked her cover. Then again, Amaimon already knew her secret and he had been able to help her sleep. The least she could do was tell him the truth, it's not like he could do anything with it. If Chio could trust him to lie next to her and not mutilate her while she slept, surely she could trust him with this?

"My family." She whispered, grabbing for the photo frame perched on the table by the bed so she could show him.

Amaimon took it and inspected it, his eyes flickering over the three people in the frame with younger Chio.

"They don't look like you. Why is that?" he asked bluntly. Anyone would have been a little offended but she knew he wasn't intending to be rude.

It was true after all, they looked nothing like her. Her mother and father had both been fair skinned and worn glasses. Her father had dark black hair and was rather short, while her mother had been a thin light brunette. They both had brown eyes. The little girl sitting next to younger Chio was obviously their biological child, with her corresponding black hair and brown eyes. Maybe she too would have worn glasses if she'd still been here.

"They weren't my biological family, but I don't think genes matter really. If someone proves themselves worthy of being called your parent or sister, then they deserve that title. That's my mother and father, and that's my little sister Asuri." Chio explained, her eyes lingering on Asuri.

"What happened to them?" Amaimon asked. He was still scrutinizing the photo as if it would tell him things he wished to know.

"They were killed by my biological father on the night I awakened." she said simply. It came out surprisingly easy considering the pain attached to it. It was almost relieving to say it, and not have to sugarcoat or embellish to hide her nature.

"Tell me what happened. In detail. What stays ingrained into your dreams so harshly?" Amaimon said curiously.

Chio took a deep breath before getting up to grab the single picture of her and Ume from the bookshelf. Once she had it she returned to her position next to Amaimon, realizing once she'd laid down that they were in quite close proximity.

"This is Ume, when I was young I just thought we were friends. But that night I found out that wasn't true, she's really my half sister. We share a demon father so we have the same powers to a degree. On the night my parents died she was there, she was the one who started it all." Chio said coldly, looking at the little blonde haired girl with a mix of resentment and sadness.

"You have the same powers? I gather you shared an awakening. Tell me about it." Amaimon exclaimed, fascination clear in his voice. Chio didn't know if she liked this.

"Yeah, she awakened on the same night as me. She came over to spend the night and ever since she arrived she'd been so excited about something. Once we were left alone she pulled me into my room and showed me what was causing it. Ume found our weapons somewhere in her parent's house and smuggled them over. I remember feeling the power in mine as though it was a part of me." Chio explained, gazing at the weapon by the foot of the bed.

"Your demon heart resides in it. Such a feeling was to be expected." Amaimon said.

"I suppose. I told Ume she was going to be in huge trouble for taking it, and that she shouldn't play with things she didn't understand. She didn't listen and started putting them together. As soon as the blades popped out of hers she lit up like a lantern, all purple eyes and glowing skin. I was horrified, and before I knew it the blades had come free from mine by themselves and I was glowing too. We started screaming but it felt right somehow, like…." Chio didn't finish her sentence, unconsciously rubbing her forearms.

"Like you had been freed, released from your restraints." Amaimon finished for her. He was right.

The first time changing had been like shedding a skin, or washing after wading through the thickest mud.

"Yeah, I was so aware of everything, I could feel Ume and see her at the same time. I was so freaked out it released itself." She muttered.

"Your awakening must have prompted Asmodeus to make his move. Which of your family did he possess?" Amaimon asked. He knew it was Asmodeus?

Chio couldn't recall sharing her father's name with anyone as of yet. Apart from the all knowing cracker that is. Amaimon was a demon prince though, and King of Earth. He would probably be able to tell from what he had seen of her in that alley.

"Our dog was in the room at the time. It…mutated and contorted into this thing, this beast. It said it was our father but we were screaming so loudly it didn't register until my mother burst in with her rifle. Ume ran out of the room and my mother started shooting it. She told me to run and find my dad, but while she was fighting it off it killed her. It tore her up like a piece of paper. I ran through the house looking for Ume but she was gone, she left me alone with that thing." Chio spat, the rage and betrayal reheating within her.

"This sister of yours, the demon blood related one, she abandoned you. This causes you pain?" Amaimon posed, seeming confused.

"Yes. I thought she was my best friend, we understood each other. Then she left me to die when it was her fault that Asmodeus was even there in the first place! If she had just behaved and left the weapons alone, we might have been okay. But Ume was never happy with anything; it was always about being stronger and better than everyone else. I hate that." she said. Amaimon seemed to become more confused at this.

"You hate power? Even though power is what enables you to save those you care for, be an exorcist?" he said.

"No. I don't hate power. I hate when people think it makes them superior. Power doesn't make you better than anyone else, what makes you better comes from in here." Chio said, clamping a hand over her heart.

Amaimon raised his own sharp fingered hand to his own chest and frowned. Then he took the same hand and placed it on her chest, shoving her hand away.

"I don't understand. It's just your heartbeat." he said, not removing his hand.

Chio felt her face flame up.

"That's not the point. I'm saying that the stuff that makes you better comes from inside. It's not something you can just inherit like demon powers or a title. Kindness, compassion, courage, those types of things, anyone can become powerful or get given power..." Chio explained.

"So you do not admire power? Instead you admire those who become attached and concerned with others?" concluded Amaimon, seeming puzzled.

"You still don't get it do you? Let me make it easier. I admire power that is used the right way. With great power comes great responsibility and all that jazz. Understand now?" she said.

Amaimon paused, seeming to be in deep thought. It was kind of cute, his lips were all puckered up and his eyebrows were scrunched together.

"I think so. What happened after your sister abandoned you and your mother was killed?" he said suddenly, removing his hand and bringing them back to the previous topic.

Chio visibly grimaced at the bluntness of the question, and Amaimon's expression changed from one of curiosity to one of recognition.

"We don't have to continue discussing this if you don't want to." he said. Chio shook her head firmly.

"No, I want to finish this. I've never really talked about it before."

"Why?" he asked.

"If I told people how they all died they'd know I was a demon or at least suspect it. Also, it's a painful story to tell. So I don't tell it." Chio said.

"Have I caused you pain?" Amaimon asked, still relatively expressionless.

Had he? It was hard to tell the story, but for the first time she felt a sense of relief by openly talking about it.

"No. It's nice to get it off my chest with a friend." she said, trying to convey how much she meant it with her eyes. Amaimon just looked back into her eyes, seeming to understand to enough of a degree. Sighing, she carried on.

"Anyway…After that it chased me through the house until I found my father, they fought but the result was inevitable. Asmodeus had already torn the house up from the inside and it had caught fire. My father became trapped underneath some rubble and died almost instantly. I ran until I got to the front door, Ume had left it open so I was able to escape onto the street. By then the neighbors had called the fire department and a team of exorcists had arrived so he vanished."

Chio remembered that night well. The feel of stone steps on her small feet, the chill of the night air,the stinging of her scrapes and burns that were already sealing up. The heat on her back from the fire and the faint glow her skin still held as she was grabbed by an exorcist. The alien sensation of her extra appendage.

"What did they do to you?" Amaimon asked.

It was a valid question, anyone would assume she'd be killed for simply existing or blamed for the deaths of her family rather than be allowed to live.

"They wanted to have me shipped off to the Grigori to be assessed as a hazard to human safety, but someone, somewhere intervened and it never happened. I woke up in a girl's home run by some nuns, exorcists would come and visit occasionally to check up on me but that's all." Chio murmured.

It had been a miserable existence. Everything she had come to know had vanished in a series of hours, and when she reflected on what was left she realized it wasn't even truly there at all anymore.

"What happened to your younger sister, you never told me? And your staff, how did it survive the fires..." Amaimon finally said, surprising her. She hadn't expected him to have listened that well...

"Asuri was at a friend's house that night, she was fine. They sent her to live with a nice adoptive family in Kyoto. I wasn't allowed to visit her though, in case he found her." Chio said.

"Past tense. Why are you using past tense when you say this?" Amaimon said suddenly. He was smarter than he looked.

"Because she still died. One of the exorcists on the scene when our parents died handled her safe transfer to the new home. I heard about a brutal home invasion in Kyoto on the news a few days after she was adopted and I just knew. I must have illegally ridden like four trains to get to her, she looked so pale and lifeless." Chio whimpered.

She couldn't cry anymore, there were no tears left in her body. Even if she was the product of that beast, she had been useless against him and as a result she had lost everything.

"What will you do now?" Amaimon murmured, examining her facial features thoroughly.

Chio wondered if he understood this feeling, or any similar feeling for that matter. Had he ever lost anyone of importance to him?

"I will find my father and kill him. I don't care what I have to do, I'll do it to make sure he never steals away an innocent life like that again. You must understand, have you ever lost someone who you cared for?" Chio said harshly.

"No." he said.

"Do you even care for anyone? Don't you have any loved ones?" Chio asked.

"I don't love. Demons don't love." He said, as though it were the simplest concept known to man and demon alike.

"You do care for someone though, like your brothers or Behemoth." she suggested. Amaimon appeared to consider this.

"I care for Behemoth I think. When he was killed by the chick with the large breasts I was angry. However it wasn't true death, he was merely sent back to Gehenna for the time being and lost his physical form." Amaimon pondered out loud.

"Okay, how would you feel if he could never come back? How would you feel if he had been killed and went nowhere, not Gehenna or Assiah, he just left forever?" Chio prompted. Amaimon's face turned frightening and harsh.

"I don't want that. I don't." he said.

Chio could tell this scenario had angered him, made him feel a small slice of how she felt. That was what she wanted, it was the only way to get through to him about these things.

"How do you feel right now when you think about that?" she asked.

"I feel rage. I feel like something is going to be stolen from me, I feel…left behind." He grunted.

It was the closest she was going to get to making him admit loneliness, and the rest was more than accurate.

"I feel like that often when I remember my family. It won't go away, because they will never come back. That's how most people feel when they lose someone they love or care for." she explained.

Amaimon turned to look to her and for the first time she could see understanding at a depth not previously known by him. It was near enough to empathy to be a breakthrough. Perhaps being more or less immortal prevented you from ever fearing the real loss of your loved ones?

"Is there a way to make it stop? Or are you going to feel this way forever?" he asked.

"People say it gets better with time, and that meeting people will help heal the wounds, but I don't know. I guess I'd have to wait and see? My family wouldn't want me to be sad all the time, so I try to be the best for them and not let it get me down." Chio said, smiling at him.

"I think I understand human grief now." he mused.

"Good, it's important to understand these things. It helps you understand other things in turn." she said.

"Stand up." He said suddenly, sitting up beside her.

"What?" she exclaimed. Amaimon said nothing, so she followed his instruction anyway.

Once she had stood, he followed until they were face to face. Chio felt her blush return. Catching her completely off guard, he grabbed her around the waist and lifted her, then spun her around a few times.

Once she was back on the ground, he studied her looking for some kind of response.

"Why did you do that?" she asked.

"Humans like this do they not? I have observed it being done and it had always received positive reactions. It makes them happy." Amaimon explained.

Oh. So he was trying to cheer her up after that dive into the past. It was sweet of him, and one of many gestures of kindness he had shown towards her since their unorthodox meeting. Chio smiled at him.

"They do. I am happy now, thank you for making me feel this way." she said.

Reaching around him she gave him a quick hug, so quick that he couldn't respond.

Not that she believed he'd want to anyway.

* * *

 **Amaimon's PoV**

Her small arms were constricting around him tightly, and then they were gone again before he had fully understood what was happening. This was a hug, another strange human tendency, done when they were happy or grateful to see someone. So he had been successful in his attempt to rid her of her sadness.

It had been instinctive, Amaimon had seen her face screw up in sadness, and her eyes gloss over slightly as if she'd soon cry. He had immediately felt a surge of protectiveness rush through him, and he recalled the many spinning scenes he had witnessed.

"Was that a hug?" he asked, causing Ichigo to go slightly red.

"Yeah. Don't go getting all weird about it. Gosh it's bright outside, what time is it?" she huffed, crossing her arms.

"I'm not. It's nine o'clock." Amaimon said. Ichigo gaped.

"Crap, I'm late, so late. I have to go, ugh, message me about whatever sweet you want next." she said as she rushed around collecting things.

"Okay." he agreed, somewhat amused by her frantic scramble to get to her classes.

Ichigo stopped, giving him a questioning look. Not understanding her sudden halt, he returned it.

"Don't look at me like that. Why are you still here? I have to get changed so go!" she shrieked.

When he didn't immediately move, she pointed at the window expectantly. With great reluctance he hopped out and away, leaving her to prepare for school.

Amaimon had no idea why he didn't want to leave immediately. Hadn't he obtained his baked goods and a valuable supply of information about her past to boot? Staying implied he saw other value in her company which to his knowledge, he didn't...Did he?

He had been surprised when the girl had been about to head out into the rain and wind for him, was it fear of exposure that drove her or something else? Of course Amaimon had already been outside her room when she messaged him, there was no way he would endanger Ichigo by asking her to walk through a storm to deliver his snacks. Her shock at him being there and him being wet had been very amusing indeed.

Surprising him further was her interest in Gehenna. Most humans tended to see Gehenna as a hellish place of blood and terror, yet she believed it had it's own beauty. It was so refreshing and pleasant to be asked about his home, instead of asking about Assiah. So he told her about his red forest, and the green stone mountains, and the tree fort he had in the insect jungle belonging to his brother. At some point during his stories, she had fallen asleep next to him.

Now, Amaimon never took the time to look at any woman who found herself asleep next to him normally, but this was not the norm. Ichigo looked like a sleeping angel, so peaceful and beautiful. Her personality was so strong and blunt, yet her outsides were so delicate looking. It was a wonderful contradiction that he enjoyed a little too much. He soon realized he was laying against the wall, and Ichigo was almost on him.

There was no way to move away without waking her.

Amaimon of course was never the type to care about such things, but he found himself defying this concept by staying laid next to her. He was immortal; he could spare a night for her right? It was just like in the park.

No it wasn't. In the park she wasn't safe, she was outside. Now she was safe in her own room.

Surely she wouldn't mind if he had to disturb her to leave… And yet, he still wanted to stay. He was entranced by the sleeping figure next to him, and when he took interest in something he never relented. Now was no exception. Turning onto his side, he looked down at her. He was simply monitoring his investment by staying.

Mephisto may have played the riddler back at the hospital, but as always the humans were too thick skulled to realize the truth. Shoot first and ask questions later. Okumura Yukio would be convinced Amaimon sought to attack youngest brother over anything else, and would pour his energy into preventing it. Thus wasting said energy. Youngest brother would merely stand by as per usual.

The other students would forget, having seen the threat as dealt with now that their teachers were aware of it. The only people who stood to bother him were that swordswoman with the wild hair and the investment herself, Ichigo.

Amaimon had no doubt Ichigo would undervalue herself and miss the obvious as she had stated before. The other woman, not so much, she had been too aware of his plot back in the forest and she'd slain Behemoth temporarily. He would not underestimate such an opponent.

Nobody was going to come between him and Ichigo. He had many plans; they grew in strength and number as the days passed.

If Ichigo sought to stray from her lineage and redefine her kind as youngest brother did, that wouldn't bother Amaimon. Of course Asmodeus clearly opposed such an idea, and would fight tooth and nail to control her. That pathetic creature had been a nuisance to Amaimon for too many centuries now. Someone else could so easily take his place.

In fact, the Succubi and Incubi were so self-destructive and selfish that they probably didn't need a ruler. The destruction of Asmodeus as a person of importance in Gehenna was long desired by many. It would be a wonderful show of his newest toy's strength.

He had been pondering such an event in more detail when a hand had smacked him in the chest. Initially Amaimon wondered if she'd woken up angry that he'd stayed, but she was still sleeping. Ichigo was seemingly having some sort of fit of terror while asleep. His Aniue had explained this phenomenon to him; it was called a nightmare or a night terror. Humans had them either in rare moments, or often after great trauma.

Ichigo started whimpering and then saying parts of words. They sounded frightened, whatever she was saying to her dream companions was clearly out of pure fear.

He didn't want to wake her up, this was clearly going to cause her distress. But at the same time, something had to be done in case something worse happened. He didn't have any real knowledge on the dreams of humans, for all he knew, she could harm herself like this. He had checked with his Aniue, suicide did not count as natural death.

Besides, he wasn't ready for her to die yet.

Amaimon wrapped an arm around her, rolling her into him, and held on tightly. Perhaps she was dreaming of being alone, or falling from a great height, apparently these were common nightmares for humans. If this was the case, surely feeling someone solid nearby would stop the dream? Her unease continued.

Maybe if she heard a familiar voice, she'd dream about something else.

"Ichigo, what's wrong? Are you okay? You're only dreaming you know, so you are okay in reality. Besides, even if you weren't, I wouldn't let any harm come to you. You won't die so long as I am here to watch over you." he said firmly.

It seemed to work, because she gradually stopped moving and murmuring, opting to bury her face in his shirt instead.

This was a dangerous position for him to be in, if she was to awake to herself like this, would she assume he cared for her? Having her believe he did would make her easier to control, but keeping up the lie would be harder. Amaimon did not care for this girl.

That's why when she woke up, Amaimon made sure to pretend he was never that close during her slumber, and when she asked about how he had calmed her, he lied about how much he had said. The lines could not become blurred; she was a tool to be used on others, nothing more.

Surely it was okay for Amaimon to make sure his tool remained happy and felt protected. Whether he should actually _want_ to make sure of that, Amaimon was unsure.

* * *

 **Another chapter! If I didn't know better I'd say Amaimon is getting a little...over invested? A little...TOO concerned for a mere puppet master?What say you?** **Reviews welcome, and please be patient for the next update... It will come, just maybe not for a few days...**

 **Sincerely, LostWaffle xx**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10- Doubt your Demons**

* * *

Her history teacher wasn't pleased to say the least, giving her a pile of extra work to get through as punishment for her lateness. Like she didn't already have too much to do…

All the classes that followed held only the smallest prick of interest for her, all her focus seeming to be taken up by the events of the previous night. What had happened?

One minute she was baking up a batch of cookies for her blackmailer, the next she was sleeping next to him. He had caught her completely off guard by coming to collect the sweet treats instead of being awkward and expecting her to go all out for him. It was nice of him. Then there was the whole nightmare calming crap bag she would soon need to face up to.

For the first time in years since the loss of her family, someone had successfully comforted her during a nightmare and given her the gift of sleep. There had obviously been a nasty dream at some point, but it had been cleared away by Amaimon's presence. Not a single soul had ever managed such a thing before, no nun from the girl's home or random visiting Doctor could get them to leave her. It was amazing and scary at the same time.

After finally managing to sleep soundly, Chio actually dreaded the coming night more. It wasn't like she could ask him to stay again. Sighing, she tried to savor how energized she felt and be grateful for what she'd gotten. No point crying over it now.

Hell, that was another thing, she had nearly cried in front of him. She had spilt her whole past out into a bowl for him to splash in.

Amaimon supposedly had no morals or cares about murder and suffering, yet he had seemed to understand her pain rather well. With some explaining he had been able to empathize and relate to her, coming away with greater understanding than before. At the end of it all, he had even tried to cheer her up by spinning her in one of those cheesy romantic comedy style moves.

Everything she had been told by Yukio and Rin about the Demon King seemed to be getting steadily disproven as the days passed by, leading Chio to wonder if that particular encounter in the Chuchi forest was a poor example of his persona in many ways.

She had no doubt Amaimon probably had a liking for murder and violence, but he seemed to only ever take to such things when it was part of his games and activities. Most of which were never really all that malicious anyway.

He wasn't completely sociopathic, he just seemed to have a great difficulty understanding emotions and feelings. This was understandable considering he was raised in a place where such things either didn't exist or were highly frowned upon. The proof of his ability to feel and understand emotion was evident in his behavior, even if he was crap at recognizing it himself.

All in all, Chio found herself liking him more and more as they interacted. Any distrust was melting away, and being replaced by emotion and value that she applied to all her other friends. Maybe in some twisted future, Amaimon might not be hated by the others for his attempt at murdering Rin…

No. Never. Even if Amaimon did a complete 180 and changed, Yukio would never let the past go, nor would the others. Rin might, but he held little sway when Yukio was around with his stern face on. Chio hadn't failed to notice the dark look in Yukio's eyes lately, like something was brooding behind them. Something she didn't think would cause any happy endings. She doubted he'd forgive anyone who attempted to harm Rin.

Then again, Konekomaru had tried to kill Rin while possessed by a demon, and Yukio forgave that. But that was different, the blame went mostly to the demon and Miwa had been immediately reaccepted by the class. At the end of the day, the younger Okumura was incredibly biased towards anyone who was demonic in nature, so unlike the human Konekomaru, Amaimon would be lucky to get killed quickly.

Having friends was so complicated. Then again, wasn't having a sister the same? Ume was just as difficult. People in general were difficult.

The final bell rang, and Chio hurriedly made her way to a more secluded area so she could use her key. Cram school was probably her favorite part of the day. Although, today was going to be spent learning chants and scripture so she wasn't exactly ecstatic. Chio had a terrible memory, and reciting in front of large groups of people made her stomach churn. Yeah, as ridiculous as it sounded, she had a deep dislike of public speaking.

She was by no means a shy girl, but when socializing it wasn't the same thing. Everyone had their eyes on you in a far different way when you gave presentations and all that. She'd just have to hope no one called on her.

"Mayami Ichigo, attending class I see." A voice called from behind her. Turning to look Chio was greeted with the sight of an older man with an eye-patch, he was wearing the normal exorcist garb and carrying a large pointed device of some sort...a compass. Looking closer, she noticed several summoning circles tattooed onto his arms.

"Yeah, and who're you?" she asked. This guy creeped her out, and with all the weirdness she had going on she was in no mood to deal with him.

"Igor Neuhaus, I was formerly a teacher here at the academy, circumstances required my leaving though…Today would normally have been my summoning arts class, but it will be replaced by an Aria skills class and the summoning class will take place tomorrow instead with Kirigakure-sensei as per usual." He said.

Igor Neuhaus. This was the guy who tried to kill Rin in his sleep. What was he even doing here? Surely he would've been kicked out by now…What in the hell was he talking to her for anyway?

"I'm kinda new here so I don't think we ever met before this. Was there something you wanted?" she asked, wanting to get away to class before this got weird.

"Many of the teachers tell me you have quite immeasurable combat strength and speed as well as notable agility. I took the liberty of observing while you attended gym class recently, it was almost…inhuman to witness. You must have been training hard to achieve and maintain such strength. So hard I'm surprised you've managed to continue as a student here as you do." He muttered, his one good eye locked on her.

So he suspected her of…something. He knew Rin was a half demon, and he had tried to murder him for it. Was he thinking of doing the same to her? Did he even suspect her of not being fully human?

"I trained a lot as a kid, and I practice at home. The homework isn't that hard either so I have the time spare. I really ought to go, I have to be in class." She replied carefully. Neuhaus nodded.

"I won't delay you. Do be careful who you associate with, such abilities are considered desirable by many. You wouldn't want to find yourself being taken advantage of…" he said as he walked away. He didn't need to look at her, the words had plenty of affect on their own.

Taken advantage of? As if anyone she knew would do such a thing…None of them even had the means really. If they even did try, she'd prevent it. Right? Chio shook it off. No way was she letting some crazy guy get inside her head. He couldn't be trusted after he tried to kill Rin.

 _Didn't Amaimon do exactly the same thing?_

That's wasn't the same though. Amaimon had been…What had he been doing?

 _Trying to kill your friend, that's what._

No. Sure he tried to kill him then, but he was changing into a new person now. Before, he only knew things like anger and revenge. He hadn't even been able to comprehend enjoyment for christ's sake. Igor Neuhaus already had a good enough understanding of feelings, yet he wanted to kill Rin anyway. Rin was innocent, and Chio hated when innocent lives were pointlessly taken. Killing Rin wouldn't solve anything.

Therefore, Amaimon and Neuhaus were not the same.

 _But Amaimon still tried to pointlessly take Rin's life didn't he? How can you trust him?_

Chio gulped. There was no answer to that.

* * *

 **Heyyyy so I'm a little late here. Sorry. But I got a new pc! So I'll up my game I promise! R &R appreciated if you still love me.**


	11. Chapter 11

Hey guys! I am so sorry for the long absence, I love this story and it hasn't left my mind for over two years since posting! I jut had some personal issue that I think we all know, can give you a hard time creatively. But i'm back! With loads of ideas!

I own nada.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Chapter 11: Let It Flow

The class on scripture recital and Aria skills had been as dull and boring as she had expected. The teacher had predictably assigned a boatload of homework centered on memorizing certain passages from holy scriptures that probably had more words than there were people living on earth. It wasn't homework Chio was looking forward to completing that was for sure. What was more annoying was Rin's absence, Shura was apparently training him to better manage his flames privately.

Now she was dragging herself from what should have been her gym class in search of him, Tsubaki-sensei had ended up leaving early and dismissing them before anything had really happened so she essentially had nothing to do. Normally she'd have spent her hour in class and gone home, waiting for the boys to arrive shortly after. But Rin and Yukio had been staying behind to train more and more often, making them later to come home.

Chio was about done with that, and was now dead set on finding them and spending her free time with them rather than by herself. She pulled out her phone and sent Rin a quick message asking where they were. Almost immediately, it buzzed indicating he'd replied. He must be pretty bored to be replying that fast. Chio wove through the halls on his instruction, and eventually came to a gym area within the halls of the cram school, inside Rin sat across from a trio of fast-melting candles alight in blue flames.

"Hey Rin, what're you doing here?" she called out.

Rin looked up to her like she was a godsend, probably bored shitless from whatever he was doing.

"I'm training. Shura wants me to be able to light the candles on the outside, and keep the middle one unlit. It's really boring, and REALLY HARD." he whined, clutching at his head.

"Is this to help you control your flames? What's so hard about it?" she asked curiously.

It wasn't meant as a jab at his ability, she was genuinely curious. Her powers tended to work more on mental command and didn't manifest as physically as Rin's did, this was partly because she had no flames or demon attributes that were so extreme and partly because she had always had relatively good control. She was interested to know if somehow the answer to Rin's issues lied in his mind like hers had.

"It just is! No matter what I try, they take over. It's pointless." he muttered, brushing the melting candles aside into a pile of their goopy brethren.

"Now you see that's your problem, it's not that the flames are too strong, it's that you believe they are. If you think of them as some uncontrollable force that is impossible to rein in, you'll never gain control. You have to believe yourself capable, don't be afraid." Chio said firmly.

"But I'm not capable, the best I can do is prevent them from burning through skin. They still consume everything else. How am I supposed to make them light some stupid candles." He said dejectedly. It was a shame really, that such an immense power had to be managed in such a short time. maybe if Rin had less pressure and more time, he could achieve things quicker.

"You're a real idiot you know that? What did I just say to you? I said, if you believe yourself incapable you will be. You're too emotionally connected to your powers, stop raging and just focus on controlling them. You know being too emotional corrupts focus and makes you make mistakes. If you calm down and separate your feelings from your thoughts, you'll find it easier." she exclaimed.

"How do I do that?" he asked.

"You have to practice, whenever you start getting worried or angry or overexcited, just stop and try to think straight. Use your head and not your heart. Once you have full control, you can let your heart be involved in the decision making process again." Chio said simply.

It was a concept she had been introduced to at an early age by her parents, who now that she came to think of it, were probably preparing her for her inevitable awakening by doing so. Chio had stuck to it like glue, even more so after their deaths. However Ume had always strayed from it, letting her emotions get the better of her and her desires cloud her judgment.

"I don't know if I'll be able to do that…" Rin trailed off hopelessly.

Chio gave him a look of sympathy, before an idea struck her.

"I have an idea, if you could bear with me?" she said. Rin nodded, a look of eagerness and ambition coming over him.

"When I was little, my parents would have me meditate and practice relaxation techniques so I wouldn't get overcome by my feelings and desires in fights. If you want I could teach you now so you can practice yourself?" she suggested.

It was risky to delve too deep into what her childhood had consisted of, if she told anyone too much, they may become suspicious of why she had been made to learn such things in the first place.

"Yeah let's do it!" Rin exclaimed with an enthused clap, interrupting her musings.

After a moment, Chio nodded, she was surprised he was actually interested seeing as he was such a fidgety and impatient person. Taking a seat across from him, she took a deep breath.

"Alright, do as I do. First close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Focus on the feel of the ground beneath you, and the air around you." she said. Flicking one eye open, she watched her pupil follow her instruction.

"Push all the thoughts and concerns out of your mind with each breath outwards. Try to feel your power inside you, find the source and just feel it. Don't try to do anything with it yet." she continued.

Rin did as she said, and she allowed herself to fall into pleasant synchronized breathing with him. It was kind of nostalgic to do this again, after gaining complete control of her own abilities her need to mediate and relax herself had waned to near non-existence.

"Once you find it, just allow yourself to bask in it for awhile, feel the heat of it like a fireplace." murmured Chio. Rin didn't reply, focusing on her guidance completely.

For awhile they sat like that, basking in the glow of their own powers. It must have been at least ten to fifteen minutes or so before she heard Rin's breathing really slow down, signaling that he had reached the point she wanted him to.

"Now let your power start flowing through you from it's source, only a little bit. If it tries to take over, push it back to where it came from and continue to breathe deeply until you are back basking in it's energy like we once were." she said.

After a few minutes, she heard Rin's breathing increase slightly and sure enough he gave out an abrupt sound of frustration and smacked the floor. Chio didn't need to look at him to know he was probably scowling and grumbling at his first failure.

"What happened?" she asked, not opening her eyes.

"I felt it flowing through my body, but then it sort of started to pulse and I thought-I thought I might accidentally set something on fire. Once I started thinking that I lost control so I just let go." he said.

"Where did you go wrong?" she asked calmly.

"I-I didn't stop soon enough did I?" Rin mumbled.

"No. You were doing fine, but you lost your focus and became afraid, instead of pushing it back you flipped out and here we are. Next time, just keep your head clear and push it back. Overworking yourself is the equivalent of losing control with this." Chio explained.

"So it's like weight lifting kinda? You take on a little more each time to build up your tolerance until you can do it without really thinking about it at all?" he pondered out loud, a thumb and index finger cradling his chin while his fluffy tail scratched his matching hair.

"Yeah. Kinda like that. If you can do it without really thinking about it you basically have complete control. Now try again." she commanded.

They gave it a few more attempts, Rin stumbled a few more times before eventually settling into a goodish rhythm of meditation that didn't burn out when he freaked out. Yukio and Shura strode in shortly after this, looking surprised when the saw Rin sitting peacefully on the floor like he was. By this time, Chio had ceased her own meditation in favor of doing some light homework.

"Chio-san? Nii-san? What're you doing?" Yukio asked, looking at them in confusion.

"Jesus Yukio, we are quite clearly sacrificing each other to the flying spaghetti monster, what does it look like?" Chio said sarcastically, not looking up from her work. She received no response from her bespectacled teacher, however Shura sniggered from beside him which made Chio smirk.

"I taught Rin to meditate so he can control his flames better, stop being so loud or you'll disturb his mellow flow." Chio said exasperatedly, nodding in Rin's general direction.

Unfortunately it was too late for this, as Rin had already begun to pull out of his meditative state.

"Yukio? Oh, when did you show up?" he asked, looking surprisingly composed for once.

"Only just now, is it true Nii-san? Has Chio-san taught you to meditate?" the younger Okumura asked.

"Yeah! It really works Yukio, I already feel like I know my power better than before. I think if I do this often enough, I'll be able to light the candles without setting you on fire in no time!" he said excitedly, his fluffy black tail swishing behind him.

Yukio and Shura exchanged a skeptical glance, which quickly annoyed Chio. Couldn't they see he was progressing? Were they skeptical because she had taught him? Shura cocked her head to the side, before striding over to the candle sack and pulling three out. She set them down in front of Rin expectantly, before returning to her place beside Yukio.

"Light them." she said.

Rin gave her a troubled look, and Chio already knew the outcome. He wasn't going to be successful. Rin was still too scared of his abilities to confidently try and light those candles, he would need far more meditation practice before he could respond to a test like this.

"Hey. You just said you felt you knew your powers better didn't you? Remember how it felt to be in control." Chio said, eyeing her friend determinedly.

Rin gulped, before staring the trio of wax cylinders down. His tail straightened and curled as he concentrated, and just before he was about to try, he took a deep calm breath much like those he took during his relaxation before.

In a flash, the two candles on the outside burst into blue flames. The flames engulfed the entirety of the candles rather than just the wick, melting them to a whitish-clear goop almost instantly. Chio sighed, she had known he wouldn't succeed, but it still sucked that he hadn't.

It was still progress though right? All the candles in the used pile behind him were torched and scorched beyond recognition, not a single one remained unburnt. This time the center candle was fine, but the others were destroyed. Well, the flames from the other two had scorched the sides of it a little, but hey.

Rin looked devastated for a minute, but once he noticed the centre candle was actually sort of okay, he looked overjoyed. Unfortunately this wasn't a permanent thing, as the flames from the two burning wax piles either side of it spread over and melted it completely.

"A slight improvement, but you still lack control Nii-san." Yukio said rather coldly, seeming to completely disregard his brother's feelings of accomplishment. Chio wanted to slap him in that moment, couldn't he see he was only restricting Rin by confining him to one method of control for his demon power?

"A slight improvement is better than no improvement at all Yukio." Chio bit. Shura caught the malice in her tone before either Okumura twin did, and gave her a knowing look.

Being the only one in the room who knew of her true power and past, Shura had easily put two and two together to make four and figured out that the methods of meditation Chio had shown Rin were designed to help a person control their demonic powers.

Therefore, it was natural to assume the methods were transferable to Rin, as he too was part demon.

"Chio has a good point there Scaredy-Four-Eyes." Shura said candidly, before turning to stare down at Rin. "You know what? I'll make a deal with you kiddo. Keep up your meditation and all this crap for a week and if you improve after that then I'll let you attend some more of your regular classes again."

Rin looked excited at this opportunity, and immediately began nodding in agreement.

"But you have to really keep at it, no slacking off. In case you hadn't noticed, you still destroyed the candle in the middle, so you're still a risk." Shura added sternly, kicking at the lump of hardening wax in front of him.

"I will, this stuff is way more fun than homework anyway. You can help me some more right Mayami-Sensei?" Rin asked jesttfully.

Up until this point Chio had been watching with bated breath, hoping for Rin to be allowed a chance to explore meditation as a method of control for his flames, and now it was being offered up on a silver platter. Of course she would agree to help...later.

"Definitely. But not anymore tonight, I have to get back and finish my homework. Maybe tomorrow?" she suggested.

"Sure thing, I'm gonna master this meditation stuff." Rin said.

Chio had no doubt he would give it his all for maybe the first three days, but she'd need to bear down on him after that so he didn't lose focus. She gave them all a parting smile before making to leave, however Yukio stopped her.

"Chio-san, it's pretty late now. Are you sure you don't want to wait around so we can all leave together? It'd be safer that way."

Chio was by no means afraid of the dark, nor was she concerned about any possibility of attack. Being well versed in self-defense and combat since childhood, she was confident no harm would come to her. Being part-demon didn't even factor in.

"I'll be fine Yukio. I'm sure my performance in gym class is proof of that." she said, trying to exude the confidence she felt.

Yukio smiled. "I have no doubts about your fighting ability; I was merely concerned about any demons giving you trouble."

"I'm sure that won't be the case. Besides, I'm armed." she said, patting her side where a gun was strapped to her belt beneath her hoodie.

If only he knew. Lower class demons would leave her be as soon as she pulled her staff on them, as for the middle ranged crap, that was easily dealt with. Besides, higher class demons could rarely make it onto campus with the barriers surrounding it. Amaimon and Gale had been the only ones to get in so far, and both of them had assistance anyway.

Yukio was still looking hesitantly at her.

"They'd just be providing me with target practice. Don't be such a worry wart Yukio. I know you want this homework anyway, if I stay it'd be your fault I couldn't turn it in…" she teased. At this, the boy finally relented and let her go. Shura was looking on with amusement on her face, clearly well aware of the needlessness of Yukio's badgering. Rin gave her a wave before making to start another period of meditation, and with that she was off.

Once Chio navigated her way back out to the colorful hallway of the cram school, she used her key and found herself on the street she had entered from. It was a lot later than she had expected. The skies were long past their sunset stage, now a dark royal blue as the pitch black night sky took over. She could hear crickets chirping and the air was cooler. Hearing a rustling in the distance, she set off quickly towards the dorms.

It would be quicker if she cut behind some of the older buildings.

Despite saying she was unafraid just moments earlier, she really didn't like the thought of being ambushed. Chio really couldn't be fucked to deal with it.

After ten minutes of silence, she regained her cool and slowed to a less urgent pace. All she could hear were her own feet colliding repeatedly with the cement beneath her, which was oddly comforting. When she got home she'd take a bath, maybe meditate some more for old times' sake. Feeling her phone vibrate, she pulled it out of her skirt pocket. She had two messages. One from Yukio and another from…Amaimon?

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

OMGGGG so yeah, chapter 11 is here! More tomoorrow cause I can't stop now.

R+R if you don't hate me fro screwing around with this for 2 years lol xxxxc


End file.
